Alaska Senate Candidate “Decoy Dan” Sullivan Has Intimate Ties to Donor Mary Peltola

WASHINGTON – “Decoy Dan” is in bed with the opposition.

Elusive Alaska Senate candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, who ran in the midterms as a Republican against an incumbent president who shares his name, is married to a woman who donates to Democrats — including his primary opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Mary Peltola, according to campaign finance records.

Federal and state records reviewed by The Post show that Karen Dillman, a Peace Corps volunteer and U.S. Forest Service employee, is the campaign treasurer of her husband Dan J. Sullivan.

Over the years, Dillman has made small donations to the Democratic campaigns of former President Joe Biden, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, failed Texas Senate hopeful Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and now Lone Star State Sen.-elect James Talarico.

But she has also been a donor for years to her spouse’s current opponent in the 2026 Senate race: Democrat Mary Peltola.

In 2022, she contributed $25 in September of that year to Peltola after the House candidate won a special election the previous month to succeed the late Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). She also donated an additional $25 in January 2024.

And Dillman donated $50 to Peltola’s main campaign committee in August 2026, a day after the Democrat won the most votes in the nonpartisan state Senate primary race.

She and her husband both worked in the Forest Service, although an agency representative said Thursday that Dillman has since retired. A biography of Sullivan’s candidate says the same thing.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan came in second in that contest, with more than 68,000 votes. Daniel J. Sullivan, also a Republican, came in third with 4,098 votes.

Democratic officials and Daniel J. Sullivan have denied intentionally running as a spoiler candidate — despite revelations about his ties to party members that sparked federal and state investigations, as well as a multistate manhunt, with the candidate not having been seen since before the election.

Half of the money raised by Decoy Dan’s campaign committee was in the form of a loan from the candidate himself. The other came from a dozen donors, some of whom also donated to Peltola, according to FEC filings.

One of these donors, Charles Flint, was tracked by the FBI.

“A few guys tried to come after me,” Flint told The Post on Thursday, referring to a recent trip to Oregon where agents tried to make contact. His son also received a tour of his boat dealership office in Alaska.

Asked if he would speak with the feds, he added: “No, I guess if they want to find me, they will find me.”

Flint also admitted that he voted first for Peltola and second for Daniel J. Sullivan in Alaska’s Senate election Tuesday — although he gave more to the latter than the former during the election cycle.

“I called him (Sullivan) when I heard he had decided to run and I said, ‘Do you need financial help?'” he recalled.

Sullivan’s campaign is also in debt more than $21,000 to the law firm Caplin & Drysdale, according to FEC filings.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska also investigated whether voters were disenfranchised due to the appearance of the “decoy” candidate on the ballot.

Some subpoenas have reportedly been issued to the Peltola and Daniel J. Sullivan campaigns. “Targeted letters” were also sent to the subjects of the investigation by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Elias Law group.

Alaska’s Republican governor further announced an investigation into whether Peltola’s Senate campaign staff should face criminal charges for the recruitment of Daniel J. Sullivan, who changed his registration as a Republican when he ran for U.S. Senate in June.

“Decoy” Dan also appears to have vanished into thin air, having last been seen taking a flight out of Anchorage.

In a controversial article last week, the New York Times reported that Peltola aides and other Democratic campaign officials and lawyers were involved in the “Decoy Dan” recruitment effort.

Peltola was also aware of these efforts, the report said, and has since made no public comments to deny it.

As of Thursday, Alaska’s Senate race had not yet been called, with Peltola narrowly leading Republican Dan Sullivan by 637 votes.

Daniel J. Sullivan more than made up for the margin of error, with 3,600 votes cast for him.

DOJ lawyers attempted to block certification if the Republican lost, given alleged confusion over which other candidate shared his name. The case was thrown out by a federal district judge two days before the election, but has since been appealed.

Representatives for the Peltola campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Neither does Dillman or Dan J. Sullivan.