𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐀'𝐒 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐍: 𝐒𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐎, 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 The Alaska ballot-stacking scheme wasn't a one-time trick. It was a sales pitch the operative kept making. An Anchorage man named Eastman says the same political operative at the center of the 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘯 scandal, Jared Kurtz, came after him too, under a fake name. 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐱 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐬, 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐧 — the real Sullivan, the one Alaskans actually elected. Eastman isn't buying the one-off story anymore. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘋𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘯. 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘋𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴, he said. That's not a staffer going rogue. That's a 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 — the New York Times already tied Kurtz to recruiting the retired teacher who became the decoy "Daniel J. Sullivan" on the ballot, and now a second Alaskan says he got the same pitch. Voters in Anchorage aren't impressed by the courts letting it slide. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, one Anchorage voter told Fox News. Another pointed out the decoy candidate never even showed his face to the public he claimed to be courting: 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯? 𝘏𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴? 𝘕𝘰, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭. The courts already cleared the decoy to stay on the ballot and let him vote, but clearing a legal bar isn't the same as clearing your conscience. 𝐉𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐳 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭 built a machine designed to confuse Alaska voters and hand Mary Peltola a win she couldn't earn outright — and every new name that comes forward makes it harder to call this one rogue operative's bad idea. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥. 𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚.

ALASKA SENATE LEGAL BATTLE: A federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit trying to delay certification of Alaska’s Senate election over candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, dubbed "Decoy Dan." While the DOJ appeals and probes into alleged voter confusion continue, state election officials report strong early voter turnout in Anchorage.