Peltola, Mary

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Tim Pool: “Don't seat her”

Written by Reed McMaster & Isabella Sherk

Published 11/02/26

Right-wing media figures are suggesting the Senate prevent Alaska Democratic candidate Mary Peltola from being seated if she wins, basing their argument on a dubious accusation that her campaign engaged in criminal behavior by allegedly recruiting a spoiler candidate with the same name as her opponent. In the tight race for control of the Senate, refusing to seat a Democrat could preserve the Republican majority.

What's going on with the Alaska Senate race?

• • The New York Times published a story accusing Alaskan Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign of seeking out a man with the same name as her Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan, to run for Senate in order to dilute the incumbent’s vote share. The piece notes that such an effort — which the Peltola campaign has denied involvement with — would not be illegal even if the campaign was involved. The Times' main source, former Peltola campaign staffer Elisa Rios, later retracted her statements, though the paper noted that her statements were “consistent with The Times’s other reporting.” [The New York Times, 10/28/26; KTUU, Alaska’s News Source, 10/28/26]
  • Sen. Dan Sullivan appears on Alaska's ballot with the words "(Registered Republican) Incumbent" printed next to his name, while the other Dan Sullivan has neither signifier. [FactCheck.org, 10/30/26]
  • President Donald Trump called for Peltola to be criminally prosecuted, and a federal judge in Alaska blocked his administration’s effort to stop election certification if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses. As PBS noted, Trump posted on social media that “Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done.” [PBS, 10/28/26; The Associated Press, 11/1/26]
  • Peltola's campaign is accused of ballot stacking, a tactic that is neither clearly illegal nor “unprecedented.” As Snopes reported, “There is no specific law related to the process of ballot-stacking,” and “even if Peltola's team engaged in ballot-stacking, it's not unprecedented. Republicans have also employed the tactic during elections.” [Snopes, 10/30/26]
  • Talking Points Memo: “What Republicans can do is very, very limited in the House. The Senate is different, and significant funny business is possible — especially if Peltola’s is the seat that gives Democrats the majority.” The article cited “lengthy litigation” in 2009 following former Democratic Sen. Al Franken’s election as one example, noting that the Republican incumbent “was perfectly entitled to exhaust every legal route to contest the result. But over time it became clear that the real angle was to delay Democrats getting Franken’s vote — which was their 60th senator — as long as possible.” [Talking Points Memo, 11/2/26]

What are right-wing pundits saying about potentially refusing to seat Peltola?

• • Podcaster Tim Pool flatly stated, “Don't seat her.” He claimed that Peltola was participating in “overt fraud,” referring to the multiple Dan Sullivans. [YouTube, Timcast, 10/30/26]
  • Fox News contributor and former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said she thinks the incumbent Dan Sullivan will win, “but to the extent that he doesn't, I don't think they should seat her.” She continued, “If you committed a crime or if there is civil liability, that doesn't be cured by one election result one way or the others. Grandma was right, Lawrence. Cheaters never prosper. And let's make sure they don't.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/2/26]
  • Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett suggested, “Might the Senate itself refuse to seat Mary Peltola if she wins?" He said, “I have no doubt that it all depends on the outcome [of the election], and there could be multiple lawsuits that go on for week after week after week.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/2/26]
  • Article III Project's Will Chamberlain said, “So at the end of the day, if both of the Sullivans’ votes add up to more than Peltola's, I think the Senate should simply refuse to seat Ms. Peltola on the grounds that she obtained her result by fraud.” [Salem Radio Network, The Scott Jennings Podcast, 10/30/26]
  • Former Bush administration press secretary Ari Fleischer suggested the Senate could refuse to seat Peltola, “especially if she wins by a small margin,” because the alleged “corruption” of recruiting spoilers is “obvious.” He said, “Congress decides who the ultimate say is on who the members are. Members of Congress decide if you get seated in that chamber. It's happened in the House. I don't know if it's ever happened in the Senate where they refuse to seat somebody, but this could be one of those issues, and especially if that margin is that tight because this corruption is so obvious.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/29/26]
  • The next hour, Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway cited Fleischer's suggestion “that the Senate could decline to seat Mary Peltola,” adding: “The Senate has done that previously — they declined to seat people during the Civil War era.” She continued, “They've declined to seat people related to governor appointees, midterm people. They have also declined to seat people when there are credible allegations of corruption or illegality in obtaining the Senate seat. That's happened multiple times in the history of the United States Senate. So, if Alaska voters are deceived through this orchestrated conspiracy against Alaskan voters' rights, that does not necessarily mean that it will be over for that Senate seat.” [Fox News, America Reports, 10/29/26]
  • Radio host Buck Sexton suggested there is a “very strong case for [why] she should not be seated” if the second Dan Sullivan's vote share made up Peltola's margin of victory. “I think that if Peltola wins and you look at these returns and decoy Dan was the margin, I think there's a very strong case for she should not be seated,” he said. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, 10/29/26]
  • Fox Business host Larry Kudlow suggested Peltola “could conceivably finish first, but not get seated. Is that possible?" His guest, Republican attorney Mehek Cooke, said, “It is, and I think this is exactly why the Department of Justice is actually saying do not certify this election until we complete an investigation.” She continued, “I think the DOJ has to make a very strong case to not certify [the election results] and to actually investigate before we have someone seated in this. And I call this a constitutional crisis, that’s what it could turn into when you have this type of fraudulent activity from campaign staffers and operatives. This could have a ripple effect, Larry, on other cases. It’s not just one Senate seat — it’s the right of our elections to matter, count, and integrity.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 10/30/26]

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an 2 26

Democrats are poised to take back at least one chamber of Congress after this November's midterm elections according to the latest polls. But Republicans are hoping their significant fundraising advantage can give them a critical edge this fall.

That's according to a Tuesday article by the New York Times' Shane Goldmacher and Theodore Schleifer, who reported that the GOP is going into the midterm race with a cash haul significantly larger than the opposition. According to the Times, President Donald Trump's main super PAC is sitting in more than $304 million, and other well-funded super PACs affiliated with the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence are expected to write big checks to Republicans this cycle.

Goldmacher and Schleifer also found that between Republicans' three main campaign arms, along with the the two GOP super PACs aligned with House and Senate Republicans, the majority party is heading into the midterms "with more than double the cash of the equivalent Democratic groups." GOP groups have a combined $320 million to spend, while Democratic-affiliated super PACs have just $137.2 million between them.

"Any Democrat who isn’t concerned isn’t serious," American Bridge super PAC co-founder Bradley Beychok told the Times. "Yes, Democrats have momentum on our side and a wide opportunity map, but we have a glaring disadvantage in overall money."

The Times additionally reported that despite his previous falling out with Trump and brief flirtations with starting a third party, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has donated "tens of millions of dollars" to Republicans in recent months. Musk also made an appearance at Mar-a-Lago to attend the wedding of a Trump staffer. All told, Republicans have more than $550 million to enter the 2026 cycle when counting Trump's super PAC and a smattering of other federal campaign accounts.

"Donald Trump has 99 problems going into the midterms," Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson said. "But money ain't one."

A money advantage doesn't necessary guarantee electoral success. In 2024, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris raised a whopping $2 billion while Trump and the Republican National Committee brought in just $1.2 billion. Harris still ended up losing all seven swing states, in addition to the national popular vote.

And despite the disparity in party fundraising, individual Democratic candidates have been vastly out-raising their Republican opponents in a few marquee races. The Times reported that in the Alaska, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio Senate races, Democrats Mary Peltola, Jon Ossoff, Roy Cooper and Sherrod Brown, respectively, are "running fund-raising laps around Republicans, driven mostly by liberal enthusiasm and small online donations," per the *Times.

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