CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss received “significant resistance” among staffers while discussing the growing Alaska ballot scandal during Thursday’s 9am editorial meeting, Digital has learned. (Michele Crowe/CBS News via Getty Images)
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EXCLUSIVE — CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss faced “significant resistance” from staff at Thursday’s 9 a.m. meeting about the growing Alaska ballot controversy, network insiders told Digital.
“This is a scandal,” Weiss declared to staff.
According to multiple sources on the call, several CBS News staffers pushed back at Weiss’ enthusiasm over the bombshell New York Times report alleging Democrats schemed to find a Dan Sullivan to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, in hopes of aiding Democratic opponent Mary Peltola.
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Many on the call shrugged it off as routine politics and said that Republicans have also engaged in similar scheming.
When Weiss asked for other examples of ballot confusion, “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan reportedly pointed to New Hampshire Senate candidate John Sununu, suggesting that midterm voters might confuse him with his brother, former Governor Chris Sununu.
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“Face The Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan allegedly suggested that Republican New Hampshire Senate candidate John Sununu may cause ballot confusion among voters thinking his brother, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, was running in that race. (Sophia Park/Getty Images; Jon Cherry/Getty Images for Concordia)
CBS News political correspondent Ed O’Keefe also insisted that such tactics are nothing new. Earlier that morning, during his appearance on “CBS Mornings”, O’Keefe stressed to viewers that what happened in Alaska “could be a dirty trick, but it’s not illegal,” adding that “this has happened before, kind of.” He pointed to the 2016 Alaska Senate race when former Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan — no relation to the U.S. Senator of the same name — briefly ran against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the GOP primary, hoping “name recognition” of the other sitting senator would help his own candidacy.
A separate CBS staffer on the call pushed back against the notion that colleagues like Brennan and O’Keefe were trying to downplay the scandal, telling Digital they were providing context to the story being discussed.
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The staffer also said the meeting was never contentious and that it was a “healthy, good conversation.”
Still, Weiss called the uproar in Alaska a “great story” that the network should follow and urged staff to push for stories like the one The New York Times broke, calling it a “learning moment.”
A spokesperson for CBS News declined to comment.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, face off in one of the country’s highly watched Senate races. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Republicans have long been suspicious about the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher who is among four Senate candidates listed on Alaska’s rank-choice ballot. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Alaska seeking to block certification of the election results if the incumbent senator loses and votes cast for the other Sullivan could have changed the outcome.
On Wednesday, The New York Times alleged his candidacy was no coincidence.
“In the summer of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat who was eyeing a run for Senate, received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can,” the Times began its report Wednesday.
“The staffer complied, combing through voter records to produce a list of Dan Sullivans from across the state. … [I]f the Peltola campaign or its allies could track down and persuade another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate, the confusion could cost the senator crucial votes on the state’s unusual, four-person ballot. The plan worked,” the report said.
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The New York Times reported that Democrats were behind the recruitment of retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to run against incumbent Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. (Katie Holmlund/Associated Press)
According to Peltola’s former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, Peltola was not directly involved in the scheme but was “definitely aware.”
Peltola’s campaign has denied involvement in his candidacy.
“But The Times has found, based on interviews and text messages, along with documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign, that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader,” the Times reported. “The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory.”
Peltola called the Times report a “distraction” and “stuff to sell newspapers.” However, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into whether any crimes or civil violations were committed.
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