Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola breaks silence after 'election fraud' claims plague her campaign following shock New York Times report

Democratic hopeful Mary Peltola broke her silence after a shock New York Times report accused her of an election fraud scheme to beat Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan in Alaska's Senate race.

A video from Peltola rallying in Soldotna in the south of Alaska shows the candidate firing back at the bombshell investigation late on Wednesday.

Talking to voters, she calls the report 'just another distraction.'

'This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions,' Peltola said. 'Nobody at The New York Times cares about affordability in Alaska.'

The Democrat's campaign denied allegations of her involvement in planting a doppelganger Dan Sullivan to take votes away from the incumbent.

Following the bombshell report, President Donald Trump demanded Peltola be thrown off the ballot and prosecuted, though he did not say what crime she had committed.

He branded the scheme 'voter fraud at the highest level' and called for the 'Decoy Dan' Sullivan to be struck from the ballot too.

Alaska's Republican governor has since ordered an investigation into Peltola's Senate campaign over the alleged plot to plant a decoy candidate on the ballot, just days before the midterm elections.

This combination photo shows Trump-backed Republican Sen Dan Sullivan, left, in Palmer, Alaska, on August 17, 2026, and another candidate in Alaska's Senate race named Dan Sullivan

Trump branded the scheme ‘voter fraud at the highest level’ as he headed to a rally in Ohio, and called for the decoy Sullivan to be struck from the ballot too

Governor Mike Dunleavy said that investigators would examine whether the campaign should face criminal charges or civil penalties.

The move followed news that revealed its role in recruiting a retiree named Dan J Sullivan to run against Republican Senator Dan S Sullivan.

The so-called 'Decoy Dan' plot involved senior advisers to Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the party's main Senate campaign arm.

They tapped the retiree, who lives in a small Alaskan fishing village because he shares the senator's first and last name.

Both Sullivans will appear on Tuesday's ballot alongside Peltola and a fourth candidate, Gerald Heikes.

A sample election ballot is displayed in Anchorage, Alaska, showing both of the Daniel Sullivan candidates

But Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared to concede on Fox News on Wednesday that the scheme may not have broken any law, insisting only that it ought to.

The Justice Department had already sued last week at Trump’s direction, asking that the race not be certified if Senator Sullivan loses, though the suit alleged no specific illegal act.

It accuses Daniel J Sullivan, who says he backed Democrats in the last three presidential elections and voted for Peltola in her 2022 and 2024 House races, of trying to fool Alaskans into thinking he is the senator.

Chief Judge Sharon Gleason of the US District Court in Alaska has put the case on a fast track, giving federal lawyers until Thursday afternoon to answer a motion to dismiss.

She also pointedly noted that the administration waited to sue until Alaskans had already started voting. It comes nearly four months after the state’s top court ordered Daniel J Sullivan onto the ballot.

The Peltola campaign and the DSCC have asked to join the case, and on Wednesday the administration dropped its objection, citing the Times report as proof of a far-reaching scheme to deceive Alaskan voters with a phony candidate.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said ballot-stacking has no place in elections and accused the campaign of lying to Alaskans and then covering it up.

When actor and singer Sebastian Croft was named as part of this year's star–studded Celebrity Traitors line–up, fans could be forgiven for underestimating him. After all, most had no idea who he was.

Alongside the likes of Richard E Grant, Jerry Hall and Michael Sheen, the 24–year–old – who had a minor role in Game Of Thrones, but found fame in Netflix hit Heartstopper – was expected, perhaps, to remain in their shadows.

But Friday's final put a firm end to that as he rumbled the remaining Traitors and took the crown with fellow Faithful Romesh Ranganathan.

Describing his victory as 'just incredible', Bash said: 'This might actually be the best day of my life.'

When it comes to his career, that may well prove to be true. But Bash has been quietly carving out a showbusiness career, having attended acting academies since he was seven.

When he was a teenager, and already starring in the West End, his parents were so determined he would be a star they moved to a flat in Covent Garden so the theatre world was on his doorstep.

Bash's mother Doulla – who stood as a Green party candidate in Kensington and Chelsea in May's local elections, winning just 346 votes – said: 'We joke that from our flat it is quicker for us to go home in the interval to use the loos, than stand in a queue at the theatre.'

Bash's West End stage debut was in 2010 in Sam Mendes' production of Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and a year later he was cast as Gavroche in Les Miserables.

Actor Sebastian 'Bash' Croft, 24, has emerged as the breakout star of The Celebrity Traitors after winning the BBC competition alongside comedian Romesh Ranganathan

Bash’s mother Doulla stood as a Green party candidate in Kensington and Chelsea in May’s local elections, winning just 346 votes

Bash attended St Edward’s boarding school in Oxford. Pictured is St. Edward's School Woodstock Road, Oxford

Those who know Bash recall a comfortable upbringing. His father John is co–founder of Elevate, one of the leading innovators in the legal services industry, which generates about £100million in annual revenue.

Bash attended St Edward's boarding school in Oxford – where fees cost up to £62,000 a year – after leaving the nearby Dragon's independent school.

It means his £41,500 share of the Traitors prize pot, which will be donated to charity Choose Love, which supports LGBT refugees around the world, is rather small change.

But it is a cause close to his heart. He experienced his fair share of turmoil at St Edward's – in particular, after he was outed by a fellow student, who had also been his secret boyfriend. It led to him leaving the school at 16.

He said in an interview: 'I don't blame the other boy who did it, because he was obviously just also trying to navigate the fact that he was getting chipped for being gay. But it was a really lonely and difficult time in my life.'

He did his A–levels at the £35,000–a–year Mander Portman Woodward, a sixth–form college in Kensington.

After leaving school, Bash won the role of young Eddard Stark (portrayed by Sean Bean as an adult) in the sixth series of the HBO hit Game Of Thrones. His film debut came in the adaptation of Stephen Fry's novel The Hippopotamus, and he appeared in Horrible Histories: The Movie.

But his most prominent role has been as Ben Hope in the 2022 Netflix series Heartstopper, a coming–of–age drama about two teenage boys who fall in love.

Bash has kept his own love life out of the spotlight, but in recent weeks it has emerged that he dated his Heartstopper co–star Joe Locke. He is now single and focusing on a variety of projects. He releases his debut EP, The Great Forever, this month, while a weekly podcast, The Sunday Scaries With Bash Croft, starts today.

And armed with his friendship with the BBC's golden boy Ranganathan – along with the star–strewn cast of Celebrity Traitors – the opportunities are unlikely to dry up anytime soon.