Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Alaska, suggested Thursday that she was unaware of a Democratic plan to stack the ballot in her favor that has set off outrage among Republicans.

“I just want to clear the air,” Peltola told supporters Thursday night at a rally in Juneau, the state’s capital. “I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about.”

“I am not interested in tricking voters,” she added.

A day earlier, The New York Times reported that Democratic operatives, including senior advisers to her campaign, had spent months secretly recruiting candidates with the same name as the state’s Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, in an effort to draw votes away from him. The plan worked, and the ballot includes a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan.

The endeavor involved campaign lawyers for Peltola as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Times reported. In a series of interviews, Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager and longtime aide, said that Peltola had not been directly part of the effort but that she was “definitely aware.”

Rios, who was fired from the campaign in August, said she had been involved in the plan, as was Peltola’s chief of staff.

The Peltola campaign and the Democratic campaign committee have denied any involvement in the candidacy of Dan J. Sullivan, the teacher who entered the race in the spring. Sullivan, of Petersburg, Alaska, has also denied being recruited. Earlier this week, Peltola brushed off revelations about the secretive effort as “just another distraction.”

Ballot stacking is widely considered legal, an age-old practice that has been used by both parties. In June, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that both Dan Sullivans could remain in the race. But Republican anger has grown over new details revealed by the Times of the secret plan to aid Peltola’s campaign.

On Thursday, the Justice Department issued dozens of subpoenas to people believed to be connected to the ballot-stacking plan, according to two officials familiar with the investigation. It was not clear whether the inquiry would result in criminal charges.

The Republican chair of a House oversight committee has also separately sought interviews with two people involved with the plan. And the Trump administration has filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking to block the certification of Alaska’s election results if Sen. Sullivan loses.

The vote in Alaska on Tuesday is expected to help determine which party controls the Senate. Peltola, the only Democrat on the ballot, is leading the polls, ahead of the incumbent Republican, Dan J. Sullivan and a fourth long-shot candidate whom the Times found was also recruited into the race.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Isabella Kwai
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