BND - Confusion candidate

🧩 BND Motif Index · M1746

Confusion candidate

A candidate who shares a rival's name is said to be planted on the ballot so that voters meaning to back the rival mark the wrong one by mistake: entered not to win but to be taken for someone else.

📜 Plots 🗂️ Elections 🗂️ Political manipulation

60claims filed under it
7left shows it came up on
8center shows it came up on
18right shows it came up on
2claims retold online
1fact-checker

⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.

A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.

what it rests on, what rests on it, and the motifs that answer it

🪜 rests on 🧩 Spoiler candidate

↔️ answers and mirrors:

🧩 They think you're stupid its answer

the shows we follow where its claims came up (7 left-leaning, 8 center, 18 right-leaning so far), colored by the show's lean; the bar is how many of its claims each one heard

left-leaning
center
right-leaning

➕ 21 more shows

"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.

the stories its claims were told about, the most told first (matched by our tools, so a link can be wrong)

📰 Alaska Senate race: Democrats linked to effort to recruit second Dan Sullivan 2026-10-28 to 2026-10-29

the words that carry it

💬 the tellers' own words: “And the gimmicks the Democrats are using, they got another guy named Dan Sullivan that's also on the ballot in the first round.” “Do you know who wrote the press release for fake Dan Sullivan?” “I want to vote for U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan. Which guy do I vote for again?” “I'd rather that it was simply the real Dan Sullivan against the Democratic candidate” “imposter Dan Sullivan is on the ballot” “there's confusion everywhere” “They didn't need to go out there and recruit another Dan Sullivan”

what's been told in this shape, in our words, by who told it: newest first in each; a claim's dots are the shows it came up on, in their lean's color (point at them for their names)

Told on the left 4

claims heard on left-leaning shows, and no right-leaning one

2026-11-10 “Democrats in Alaska behaved stupidly and boneheadedly by recruiting another Dan Sullivan to run.” 2
2026-11-02 “Democrats' decoy-candidate dirty trick in Alaska was stupid and will fuel MAGA stolen-election claims if Peltola wins.” 1
2026-11-01 “A New York Times story says a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska's ballot is a Democratic dirty trick to deceive voters; critics call the story overblown.” 1
2026-10-31 “Mary Peltola knew nothing about other candidates on the ballot and did not try to trick voters.” 2

Told on the right 36

claims heard on right-leaning shows, and no left-leaning one

2026-11-11 “Chuck Schumer and Mary Peltola's campaign are accused of lying when they deny any part in a decoy Dan Sullivan on Alaska's ballot.” 1
2026-11-10 “Democrats use ranked-choice voting and gimmicks like a namesake decoy candidate to make elections harder for Republicans.” 1
2026-11-08 “Chuck Schumer and Mary Peltola are accused of a secret plan to rig the Alaska Senate race with a decoy Dan Sullivan.” 1
2026-11-06 “The Alaska Senate race is said to have been rigged with decoy candidates planted to siphon votes from Dan Sullivan.” 1
2026-11-06 “Running a fake candidate in Alaska is election rigging in the extreme.” 2
2026-11-06 “Alaska Democrats are accused of lying to the court in claiming no knowledge of the scheme to put a fake Dan Sullivan on the ballot.” 1
2026-11-05 “A decoy Dan Sullivan on the Alaska ballot is said to have drawn enough votes meant for the real one to decide the Senate race.” 1
2026-11-03 “An operative who used a false name to recruit candidates to help Peltola's campaign may have committed fraud under Alaska law.” 1
2026-11-02 “The DSCC precipitated a purposeful election fraud in Alaska.” 2
2026-11-02 “There is a scheme to steal votes in Alaska to subvert the will of the voters.” 2
2026-11-01 “Mary Peltola's team holds Alaskans in disdain, testing on a focus group whether they could be confused by its decoy-candidate scheme.” 1
2026-10-31 “Democratic operatives aligned with Mary Peltola recruited candidates to peel votes from Senator Dan Sullivan.” 2
2026-10-31 “Democrats used an operative, unreported money and a copycat of Sullivan's website to get a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot.” 1
2026-10-31 “Democratic campaign officials and legal experts orchestrated an effort to find another Dan Sullivan to run in Alaska.” 4
2026-10-30 “Mary Peltola's campaign sought to defraud voters by running a candidate with the incumbent's name.” 1
2026-10-30 “The Democratic effort to recruit a decoy candidate constitutes election fraud.” 2
2026-10-30 “Democrats in Alaska recruited a Republican to run against another Republican to manipulate ranked choice voting.” 4
2026-10-30 “A decoy candidate is running purely as a spoiler to confuse voters and help Mary Peltola win.” 4
2026-10-30 “Democrats recruited a second Dan Sullivan to siphon votes from the incumbent Senator in Alaska.” 3
2026-10-30 “Democratic operatives coordinated to create voter confusion to take votes from the Republican incumbent.” 2
2026-10-30 “Mary Peltola lied about her involvement in running a fake Dan Sullivan candidate.” 3
2026-10-30 “A dirty trick in Alaska used duplicate names on the ballot to mislead voters.” 2
2026-10-30 “Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee conspired for almost a year to run a deceptive candidate in Alaska.” 8
2026-10-30 “Mary Peltola was aware of the effort to use decoy Dan Sullivan candidates to disrupt the election.” 1
2026-10-30 “A second Dan Sullivan is said to have been put on the Alaska ballot as a fraud, under the incumbent's initial, to confuse voters.” 1

➕ 11 older

2026-10-29 “Democrats in Alaska used operatives to recruit candidates to peel votes from Senator Dan Sullivan.” 4
2026-10-29 “The second Dan Sullivan's candidacy is said to be a deliberate attempt to mislead voters, his press release and website traced to Democratic operatives.” 1
2026-10-29 “A namesake candidate is said to be on the Alaska ballot as a decoy to confuse voters and swing the Senate majority.” 1
2026-10-29 “Mary Peltola lied about her involvement in a scheme to manipulate voters.” 4
2026-10-29 “Mary Peltola is lying about working with D.C. insiders on a decoy-candidate scheme to trick Alaskans.” 1
2026-10-29 “A New York Times report is said to have caught Mary Peltola and the Democrats running a decoy Dan Sullivan to trick Alaska voters, and lying about it.” 1
2026-10-29 “Democrats in Washington and Alaska ran a hidden decoy-candidate scheme to steal the Senate.” 1
2026-10-29 “A Democratic operative used secret ballot maneuvers to recruit a candidate to help Mary Peltola.” 2
2026-10-27 “Daniel J. Sullivan is attempting to confuse voters by using the same name and party affiliation as Senator Dan Sullivan.” 6
2026-10-17 “Democrats are deploying a decoy candidate to undermine the real Dan Sullivan in Alaska.” 8
2026-10-13 “Democrats are attempting to manipulate Alaskans into throwing away their votes by recruiting a deceptive candidate.” 8

Told on both sides 15

claims heard on left- and right-leaning shows alike

2026-11-04 “Democrats are using a dirty trick to split the vote for Republican Sullivan.” 3
2026-11-02 “Mary Peltola's team engaged in a political scandal by using a decoy on the ballot to trick voters.” 11
2026-11-01 “Democrats worked to place other Dan Sullivans on the ballot to draw votes away from the incumbent.” 3
2026-10-30 “Democrats intentionally placed a different Dan Sullivan on the ballot to divert votes.” 9
2026-10-30 “Mary Peltola should be criminally prosecuted for her team's efforts to influence the Alaska election.” 2
2026-10-30 “Mary Peltola's advisors devised a scheme to confuse and fool Alaskans.” 11
2026-10-29 “Mary Peltola should be prosecuted criminally for her role in the decoy candidate scheme.” 8
2026-10-29 “Mary Peltola's campaign actively recruited a second Dan Sullivan to confuse voters and take votes from the Republican.” 9
2026-10-29 “Democrats recruited a second Dan Sullivan to deceive Alaska voters and manipulate the Senate race.” 12
2026-10-29 “The second Dan Sullivan is a fake candidate intended to confuse Republican voters.” 9
2026-10-29 “A fake Dan Sullivan ended up on the Alaska ballot.” 12
2026-10-29 “Political operatives may have recruited a second Dan Sullivan to confuse Republican voters in Alaska.” 2
2026-10-29 “Mary Peltola's campaign staff mocked the intelligence of Alaskan voters by planning to trick them with a ballot spoiler.” 11
2026-10-27 “Democrats orchestrated a campaign for a fake Dan Sullivan to confuse voters.” 12
2026-10-08 “Democrats recruited a decoy candidate to confuse voters and rig the election for Peltola.” 11

Told in the center 2

claims heard only on center or crossover shows

2026-10-30 “Dan J. Sullivan is said to be a Democrat running on his shared name to confuse voters into voting for him.” 1
2026-10-25 “Eric Holder says the 'imposter' Dan Sullivan is on the ballot legitimately by the Alaska courts' ruling, so his presence is no basis for refusing to certify the result.” 🎙️ on the shows

Retold online 2

claims many people posted in their own words

2026-10-25 “Republicans are masterminding a scheme to use a candidate with the same surname as an incumbent to create election chaos.”
2026-10-24 “Republicans use ghost candidates with the same last name as Democrats to steal elections.”

Fact-checked 1

claims a fact-checker examined: the verdict is theirs, behind the link

2026-10-30 “A former staffer for Mary Peltola claims that Democratic campaign aides recruited multiple candidates named Dan Sullivan to run for Senate to confuse voters and peel votes away from Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.” 🔎 Snopes

M1746 · first seen 2026-11-09 · last 2026-10-25 · what this is · how the index works

Confusion candidate

🪜 Its family

🎙️ Who it came up with

🎙️ 21 more shows

📰 In the news

🗣️ In so many words

🧶 Its claims

Told on the left 4

Told on the right 36

Told on both sides 15

Told in the center 2

Retold online 2

Fact-checked 1

🪜 Its family

🎙️ Who it came up with

🎙️ 21 more shows

📰 In the news

🗣️ In so many words

🧶 Its claims

🫏 Told on the left 4

🐘 Told on the right 36

⚖️ Told on both sides 15

🎙️ Told in the center 2

🧶 Retold online 2

🔎 Fact-checked 1

Told on the left 4

Told on the right 36

Told on both sides 15

Told in the center 2

Retold online 2

Fact-checked 1