“House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky) is investigating allegations that Democratic operatives recruited an Alaska Senate candidate with the same name as incumbent Dan Sullivan (R) in a bid to siphon votes from him,” says the lede to a Thursday press release for the soon-to-Ranking Member of the Oversight Committee, laundered into an Axios article.
They even added their imprimatur with the “Why it matters” bullet point. So adorbs. Especially because what the fuck is actually going to happen in the next five days, lol. There are three possible outcomes here: (1) Peltola wins by a margin larger than other Dan Sullivan’s share of the vote. Comer ends up looking stupid, “investigation” sputters out like they always do. (2) Peltola wins by a margin smaller than other Dan Sullivan’s share of the vote. Comer’s investigation gets a brief surge of momentum, then nothing actually meaningful happens before the lame duck period ends and the Dem House majority is sworn in – as is Senator Mary Peltola. Comer hands gavel to Rob Garcia, hates every single day of the next 2+ years. (3) Peltola loses, incumbent Dan Sullivan wins another term. Nothing actually meaningful happens before the lame duck period ends and the Dem House majority is sworn in. Comer hands gavel to Rob Garcia, hates every single day of the next 2+ years.
“Knowing they can’t win on the issues, Democrats schemed to rig the US Senate election in Alaska by deliberately confusing voters,” the Axios-published press release quotes Comer as saying, a statement that will implode on contact with scenario #1, and more importantly kind of gives away the reality that there will be no real investigation no matter the outcome of the race. It’s not like Comer wants to sit there and have Senator-elect or Senator-reject Mary Peltola keep changing the subject to the curious question of how a New Jersey federal prison inmate who had never set foot in the North Star State in his life – and would not be eligible to do so until 2042 at the earliest – was allowed on the general election ballot as a Democrat before she lost her House seat back in 2024.
God forbid Comer let himself get confronted with why that kind of shit is suddenly a problem now.