The National Republican Senatorial Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, asking the panel to investigate Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s role in an alleged scheme to recruit a candidate with the same name as her opponent.
Peltola campaign staffers and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reportedly organized to scout another Dan Sullivan to run against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) — allegations the parties involved deny.
In the seven-page letter to the FEC, first reported by Semafor, Republicans asked the federal elections watchdog to pursue the claims identified in The New York Times article. The letter also includes allegations that Peltola’s camp violated campaign finance law when it coordinated $1.5 million to boost a fourth candidate, Republican Gerald Heikes.
However, the FEC has been effectively shut down for 18 months due to Republican gridlocking.
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The federal watchdog tasked with regulating political spending still lacks the four commissioners needed at minimum to establish a quorum necessary to investigate campaign finance complaints.
President Donald Trump declined to appoint nominees that would allow the bipartisan agency to regain its quorum for over nine months since the panel lost quorum in April 2025. In February, he finally named a pair of Republicans to serve on the commission alongside two remaining Democrats. But Senate Republicans tasked with confirming the duo have not moved forward with nomination proceedings, citing paperwork issues and the monthslong medical absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).
Now, the NRSC is petitioning the commission to investigate the Democrats’ involvement in the alleged efforts to scout Daniel J. Sullivan, a candidate who will appear on the general election ballot next week — despite the lack of quorum.
“The Commission should investigate the facts reported in the NYT Report, sanction to the fullest extent of the law all violations that it finds, and impose such additional remedies as are necessary and appropriate to ensure compliance with the Act,” the letter says, referring to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
Top Republicans also accused the DSCC of improperly directing political payments and asked the FEC to refer its findings to the Department of Justice.
The hobbled commission already presides over a backlog of hundreds of pending enforcement matters, according to FEC Chair Shana Broussard.
Even without a quorum, FEC lawyers will review the complaint and prepare it for the commission’s consideration, Tom Moore, a former chief of staff to FEC Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub, told The Washington Sun. The team will examine whether parties properly disclosed money spent to potentially influence the election and whether any spending involved prohibited coordination.
The process could ultimately take months and would conclude well after Election Day. Recruiting a candidate based on their name is not itself illegal, Moore said. While the financial allegations behind that effort — assertions that Peltola’s campaign illegally coordinated a PAC’s outside spending — could violate campaign finance law, the FEC has historically never punished candidates accused of coordination.
“That is something the Republican commissioners have blocked for years and years,” Moore said.
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