约书亚·古德曼、吉姆·马斯蒂安 阿拉斯加州彼得斯堡讯——在阿拉斯加州这个宁静的渔业社区彼得斯堡，几周来没人见过丹·J·沙利文。
JOSHUA GOODMAN, JIM MUSTIAN PETERSBURG, Alaska — In the sleepy Alaskan fishing community of Petersburg, nobody has seen Dan J. Sullivan for weeks.
联邦调查局特工造访了捐款支持他那场不切实际竞选活动的朋友们一天后，他那座简陋的住宅依然一片漆黑。这场竞选活动旨在击败一位名字相同的共和党参议员丹·S·沙利文。他家中唯一的政治标识是妇女选民联盟的一个庭院牌子，上面写着：“为民主挺身而出：2026年投票。”
His rustic home stood dark a day after FBI agents visited friends who donated to his quixotic campaign to unseat the Republican senator with the same first and last name — Dan S. Sullivan. The only display of politics at his home was a yard sign from the League of Women Voters: “Stand Up for Democracy: Vote 2026.”What may have begun as a ploy to harm the reelection prospects of Sen. Sullivan has taken a serious turn as the Trump administration weighs criminal charges over a campaign tactic known as “ballot stacking.”
这场最初可能只是为了损害沙利文参议员连任前景的伎俩，如今已转向严重局面，特朗普政府正在考虑就一种被称为“选票堆叠”的竞选手段提起刑事指控。“这似乎只是浪费纳税人的钱，”彼得斯堡居民莎伦·亨特说，她和丈夫向前小学教师丹·J·沙利文捐款1000美元。联邦调查局特工周六敲响了她家的大门，当时正对该竞选活动的十几位捐款人进行一系列访谈。
“It just seems like such a waste of our taxpayer money,” said Sharon Hunter, a Petersburg resident who, with her husband, donated $1,000 to Dan J. Sullivan, a former elementary school teacher. FBI agents knocked on her door Saturday during a round of interviews with the campaign’s dozen contributors. “I’m a bit incredulous about their whole angle,” Hunter said, “because they’re targeting a person who’s been a real contributor in this community.”
“我对他们的整个思路感到难以置信，”亨特说，“因为他们针对的是一位在这个社区真正做出贡献的人。”多年来，招募候选人分走对手选票一直是阿拉斯加州古怪政治的一部分。今年，该州的公开初选和即决制投票制度又增加了一个变数，使得不太知名的候选人更容易充当破坏者，当没有候选人获得多数票时。
Recruiting candidates to draw votes away from an opponent has been a part of Alaska’s quirky politics for years. This time around, the state’s open primary and ranked choice voting systems add another wrinkle, making it easier for lesser-known candidates to play spoilers when no contender secures a majority. The tactic has drawn fresh scrutiny as the incumbent Sullivan fights off a serious challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former U.S. representative, in a race that could determine control of the Senate.
随着现任参议员沙利文努力抵挡来自前美国众议员、民主党人玛丽·佩尔托拉的严峻挑战，这一手段引发了新的审查，这场竞选可能决定参议院的控制权。
Peltola has denied any role in the alleged chicanery as she has sought to distance herself from a New York Times article published last week that linked a group backing the former congresswoman to a Democratic operative trying to recruit decoy candidates.
佩尔托拉否认参与所谓的欺诈行为，并试图与上周发表的一篇《纽约时报》文章保持距离，该文章将支持这位前众议员的一个团体与一名试图招募替补候选人的民主党操盘手联系起来。
“This is Alaska. We’re not in the business of tricking each other up here,” Peltola told supporters at a rally in Anchorage last week.
“这是阿拉斯加。我们这里不搞互相算计，”佩尔托拉上周在安克雷奇的一次集会上对支持者说。
Dan J. Sullivan’s entry into the race has drawn scrutiny since June, when the Alaska Division of Elections tried to remove him from the primary ballot, determining he had not filed his candidacy as a Republican in “good faith.”
自六月以来，丹·J·沙利文参选一事就备受关注，当时阿拉斯加州选举管理部门试图将其从初选选票上移除，认定他并未以“诚信”身份作为共和党人提交参选申请。该认定已被州法院推翻。为避免任何混淆，州官员在选票上将丹·S·沙利文标识为共和党人和现任议员。
That finding was overturned by state courts. To avoid any confusion, state officials identify Dan S. Sullivan on the ballot as a Republican and the incumbent. Dan J. Sullivan repeatedly said he entered the race on his own accord and had no contact with Peltola’s campaign — “zero, none, zilch,” he told The Associated Press in June.
丹·J·沙利文一再表示，他是自主决定参选，与佩尔托拉的竞选团队没有任何联系——“绝对没有，完全没有，一点也没有，”他在六月接受美联社采访时说。当被问及是否有民主党工作人员联系他参选时，他回答“没有”。“这是我的选择，”他当时说。
He answered “no” when asked if any Democratic operatives had contacted him to run. “This is my choice,” he said at the time. A federal lawsuit brought by the Trump administration to revive efforts to undermine the former teacher’s candidacy — and challenge a potential Peltola win by blocking certification of the election results — was dismissed on Sunday by a federal judge.
特朗普政府提起的一项联邦诉讼，旨在重新启动削弱这位前教师参选资格的努力，并通过阻止选举结果认证来挑战佩尔托拉可能的胜选，该诉讼周日被一名联邦法官驳回。司法部迅速提起上诉。
The Justice Department quickly appealed. AP’s efforts to reach Dan J. Sullivan since The Times article have been unsuccessful.
自《纽约时报》文章发表以来，美联社多次尝试联系丹·J·沙利文均未成功。美联社采访的几位捐款人表示，他们已有一段时间没有与他交谈了。与此同时，这位参议员试图借这场争议争取第三个任期。
Several of the donors AP interviewed said they have not spoken to him in quite some time. The senator, meanwhile, is seeking to ride the controversy to a third term. “My costume is the real Dan Sullivan – not the fake guy,” he quipped to trick-or-treaters Saturday night.
“我的化装就是真正的丹·沙利文——不是那个假货，”他周六晚上对不给糖就捣蛋的孩子们开玩笑说。
The controversy has thrust Petersburg, a fishing community of 3,000 known as “Little Norway” for its late 19th century settlers, into the center of a federal investigation and a crush of media attention.
这场争议将人口约3000人的渔业社区彼得斯堡推到了联邦调查和媒体关注的中心。该镇因19世纪末的定居者而被称为“小挪威”。
It’s the type of small town where everyone seems to know everyone else’s business, and more than a dozen residents said they liked and admired Dan J. Sullivan, calling him a creative teacher who ran an after-school program, Little Kids Rock, to teach guitar. At a lively Halloween party at Kito’s Kave, a local dive, a patron poked fun at the surge of interest by dressing up as an FBI agent.
这是那种每个人似乎都知道别人事的小镇，十几位居民表示，他们喜欢并钦佩丹·J·沙利文，称他为一位富有创造力的老师，曾主持课后项目“小小摇滚儿童”来教吉他。
Another wore a “Petersburg Election Scandal” prison placard around her neck.
在当地酒吧基托洞穴举行的热闹万圣节派对上，一位顾客打扮成联邦调查局特工，嘲笑这股关注热潮。另一位顾客脖子上挂着一块写着“彼得斯堡选举丑闻”的囚服牌，罪名是“在阿拉斯加登记为选民”。退休渔民埃德·伍德说，他给丹·J·沙利文的竞选活动写了一张1000美元的支票，以回报沙利文及其妻子为一场持续十年的昂贵斗争所给予的支持，这场斗争旨在阻止该州砍伐彼得斯堡上方一片林地山坡。
The charge: “Being a Registered Voter in Alaska.”Retired fisherman Ed Wood said he wrote a $1,000 check to Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign to repay the support Sullivan and his wife gave to a costly, decade-long battle to block the state from logging a forested hillside that sits above Petersburg. Another donor, retired boat seller Charles Flint, described Sullivan as a “liberal thinker” who sometimes voted for Republicans.
另一位捐款人、退休船舶商人查尔斯·弗林特将沙利文描述为一位“自由派思想家”，有时会投共和党的票。弗林特说，丹·J·沙利文从未告诉过他为何参选。
Flint said that Dan J. Sullivan never told him why he entered the race. “He probably viewed himself more as a spoiler than a legitimate long shot,” said Flint, who has a “Mary for U.S. Senate” yard sign supporting the Democrat outside his coastal home.
“他可能更把自己看作是搅局者，而不是一个真正的黑马，”拥有支持民主党参议员候选人玛丽的“玛丽参议员”庭院标志的弗林特说，他住在海边的房子外。“我相信他现在可能在想，‘我本不该这么做。’”朋友们说，他们确信丹·J·沙利文从未料到会引起如此多的关注，更不用说来自联邦执法部门的关注了。
“I’m sure he’s probably thinking now, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done this.’”Friends said they are certain that Dan J. Sullivan never expected to generate so much attention, let alone from federal law enforcement. FBI agents have descended on the town in recent days as federal authorities expanded a monthslong criminal probe into allegations that Democratic campaigners sought to recruit candidates to run against the incumbent senator.
联邦调查局特工近日涌入该镇，联邦当局扩大了一项持续数月的刑事调查，调查指控称民主党竞选人员试图招募候选人参选，以挑战现任参议员。丹·J·的大多数捐款人住在彼得斯堡，共捐款7150美元。被询问者表示，特工询问他们是否感到被这位不太知名的沙利文欺骗了。
Most of Dan J.'s donors live in Petersburg and together contributed $7,150. Those questioned said the agents asked them whether they had felt deceived by the lesser-known Sullivan. Anna Holmes and her husband contributed $500 to Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign and were surprised when FBI agents showed up Friday night to question them.
安娜·霍姆斯和她的丈夫给丹·J·沙利文的竞选活动捐款500美元，周五晚上联邦调查局特工上门询问他们时，他们感到很惊讶。霍姆斯说，特工告诉这对夫妇，他们正在调查“竞选资金”违规行为。
The agents told the couple they were investigating “campaign finance” violations, Holmes said. They also asked the couple whether they had intended to contribute to Sen. Sullivan’s campaign.
特工还问这对夫妇，他们是否本打算捐款给沙利文参议员的竞选活动。“我告诉特工，我不会那样做，”霍姆斯说。并非彼得斯堡的每个人都为沙利文辩护。
“I told the agent I would not have done that,” said Holmes. Not everyone in Petersburg defended Sullivan. Amanda Ohmer said she was shocked when her son’s former teacher entered the Senate race in May as a Republican, three days after Peltola visited Petersburg on a campaign stop.
阿曼达·奥默说，当她儿子的前任老师于5月以共和党人身份参选参议员时，她感到震惊，这发生在佩尔托拉竞选活动访问彼得斯堡三天后。奥默说，她认为他是一位知名的自由派人士，并参加了镇上的一场反特朗普抗议活动。
Ohmer said she believed he was a well-known liberal and attended an anti-Trump protest in town. “You don’t see a Republican at a No Kings protest,” said Ohmer, a bartender at the local Moose Lodge.
“你在‘无王者’抗议活动中看不到共和党人，”当地驼鹿俱乐部的调酒师奥默说。
She said she supported the federal investigation and is irked by friends who’ve rallied around Dan J. Sullivan.
她说她支持联邦调查，并对那些围绕丹·J·沙利文的朋友感到恼火。
“It’s sleazy,” said Ohmer.
“这很卑鄙，”奥默说。“仅仅因为共和党人也这么做，并不能使其变得正确。”在阿拉斯加，推动所谓“诱饵候选人”等选举肮脏手段并不罕见，该州有着选举势均力敌的历史。约60万名登记选民中有约60%自称是独立人士——这是全国比例最高的州之一。
“Just because Republicans do it, too, doesn’t make it right.”Electoral dirty tricks such as promoting so-called decoy candidates are not uncommon in Alaska, a state with a history of tight races. About 60% of 600,000 registered voters identify as independents — one of the highest percentages in the country. As recently as 2024, the Alaska Republican Party fought to keep on the ballot an imprisoned felon with no ties to the state who was running as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives seat then held by Peltola.
就在2024年，阿拉斯加共和党曾努力让一名与该州毫无关联、正在服刑的重罪犯留在选票上，他以民主党人身份参选当时由佩尔托拉担任的美国众议院席位。佩尔托拉输掉了那场竞选。
Peltola lost that race. Mustian reported from New Orleans.
马斯蒂安从新奥尔良报道。
Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Nicholas Riccardi in Washington contributed reporting.