By SUZANNE DOWNING
Nov. 1, 2026 – Alaska Democratic Party Chairman Eric Croft reached for a bizarre metaphor Friday while laughing off allegations of ballot manipulation in Alaska’s US Senate race: Alaskans, he told CNN, “know to bring a gun to a gunfight.”
Then, when pressed about the tactic of recruiting a candidate with the same name as Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, Croft said he found it “funny.”
The exchange with CNN co-host Pamela Brown came as the controversy surrounding Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., the Petersburg candidate known by readers of this publication as “Decoy Dan,” had escalated into a publicly confirmed criminal investigation.
The Mary Peltola campaign is now under a criminal subpoena and so is the Alaska Democratic Party.
Croft’s insisted to CNN that he was not hearing any widespread outrage from Alaskans.
“There’s no legal issue to it,” Croft said. “And, on your sort of dirty tricks thing, I think Alaskans have a different take there, too. We know to bring a gun to a gunfight.”
It’s curious language for a party that has become known for political violence across the nation, including assassinations.
Croft continued by suggesting Alaskans want a representative who will fight hard because the state is too often forgotten in national politics.
“Half the maps…leave us off the map,” Croft said. “And so, we kind of want [an] elected representative to push hard and use every tool they’ve got. So, I’m just not hearing that level of outrage that you’re talking about.”
Brown interrupted with the obvious follow-up.
“So, do you support this move, then? Is that — do you support this tactic?”
Croft’s answer began with a denial, followed immediately by amusement.
“No, I think it’s funny,” he said.
He then distinguished the same-name candidacy from recruiting someone jailed in New York for threatening violence against elected officials, which he called “disgusting.”
That man, Eric Hafner, is a Democrat. He was not recruited, but has been a perennial candidate across the country.
“Having somebody with the same name run,” Croft continued, did not produce the same outrage for him. He described the conversation around a coffee table this way: “Did you hear Ohio Dan’s trying to kick Petersburg Dan off the ballot, isn’t that funny?”
“Ohio Dan” was Croft’s reference to the incumbent senator, who grew up in Ohio.
“Petersburg Dan” referred to Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. But Croft did not mention that Decoy Dan is from Chicago.
The New York Times reported Oct. 28 that operatives aligned with Democrat Mary Peltola had worked to recruit candidates who could draw votes away from the incumbent. Peltola has denied knowing about or participating in the recruitment effort but people around her said she did, in fact, know about the operation. Decoy Dan has denied running at Democrats’ behest, but has suddenly disappeared as the FBI has closed in.
On Friday, US Attorney Michael J. Heyman publicly confirmed that a criminal investigation had been underway for months. He said new information had prompted a significant increase in law enforcement resources devoted to the matter.
For the head of the Alaska Democrats, this is funny and there is “no legal issue.”
His “gun to a gunfight” wording is notable: Republican officials and conservative figures have been actual targets of gunfire: Steve Scalise was gravely wounded at a Republican congressional baseball practice in 2017; Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024; and Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September 2025.
Against that history, invoking a gunfight while discussing an election scandal is a jarring choice for a state political party leader.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville has raised this as a broader concern in an opinion column published on his Senate website, arguing that inflammatory political violent rhetoric and the celebration of attacks on conservatives have helped normalize political violence.
Croft’s choice of words was especially ironic in an interview in which he condemned Democrat Hafner’s threats against elected officials.
With voting already underway and Election Day approaching, the Alaska Democratic Party chairman offered a national audience his assessment that the whole thing is funny and that Alaskans do not care one iota.
