(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The wife of the so-called decoy Dan in Alaska was revealed Thursday as a donor to Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate for Senate who is facing growing questions about her knowledge of efforts to recruit candidates with names similar to incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The decoy Dan, named Daniel J. Sullivan, is married to a woman identified as Karen Dillman. According to the New York Post, Dillman is a small-dollar donor to several Democratic campaigns, including Peltola’s.
The decoy Dan is viewed as a potential spoiler candidate against Sen. Sullivan, R-Alaska, who is now narrowly trailing Peltola in the general election results.
Dillman is reportedly decoy Dan’s campaign treasurer, a former Peace Corps volunteer and a retiree from the U.S. Forest Service.
The Post found that Dillman has made contributions to Peltola’s previous and current campaigns, even as her husband ran against the Democratic candidate.
She specifically gave Peltola $50 in August 2026, when both her husband and Peltola were competing in the state’s nonpartisan Senate primary. Her husband ran as a Republican.
Separately, she contributed $25 in September 2022, when Peltola was running to succeed the late Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, as the state’s at-large representative. She won the seat over Republican Sarah Palin.
Alaska Senate candidate 'Decoy Dan' Sullivan has intimate ties to Mary Peltola donor https://t.co/DC3wF0U3tW pic.twitter.com/fv6xzsSlGH
— New York Post (@nypost) November 5, 2026
Dillman has also donated to the campaigns of former President Joe Biden, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Texas gubernatorial campaign of Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Sen.-elect James Talarico, D-Texas.
The alleged scheme involved recruiting as many individuals named Dan Sullivan as possible to enter the race, potentially confusing voters in the state’s already-complex ranked-choice voting system.
The other Sullivan reportedly has not held campaign events despite telling the Associated Press in June 2026 that he was genuinely running for the seat.
Peltola has repeatedly denied any involvement in the recruitment effort, though her campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have been identified by The New York Times as major players in the effort.
The DOJ has since issued several subpoenas as part of its probe into the matter.
