皮尤研究中心最近的一项调查显示，85%的民主党人担心民主面临日益增长的威胁，但如果他们不那么积极地从事破坏民主进程的政治肮脏手段，这种担忧会更可信。他们在阿拉斯加参议院选举中的近期把戏可能是本轮选举周期中最肮脏的，但还有其他例子。
Democrats’ concerns about a growing threat to democracy — 85 percent in a recent Pew Research Center survey — would be more believable if they weren’t so actively engaged in political dirty tricks that undermine the democratic process. Their recent antics in the Alaskan Senate race may be the dirtiest in this election cycle, but there are others.
《纽约时报》的一项调查称，阿拉斯加民主党参议院候选人玛丽·佩尔托拉及其竞选团队人员与参议院民主党竞选委员会合作数月，试图寻找一名与现任共和党参议员丹尼尔·S·沙利文同名的阿拉斯加人。他们找到了这样一个人：丹·J·沙利文，据称他被说服以共和党身份参选，但后来改为“无党派”身份竞选美国参议员。他否认这一指控。
A New York Times investigation alleges that Alaskan Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola, who represented Alaska in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2022 to 2025, and her campaign operatives worked with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for months to find an Alaskan with the same name as the current Republican incumbent, Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan. And they found one: Dan J. Sullivan, who was allegedly persuaded to run as a Republican, but switched to “undeclared,” for the U.S. Senate. He denies the allegation.
阿拉斯加的多党制、排序选择投票制度让这位替代沙利文进入了大选。民主党人明显的计划是混淆选民，从而分走原本投给现任参议员沙利文的选票，让佩尔托拉获胜。幸运的是，该州已采取措施，确保选民知道哪位沙利文是现任共和党人。
Alaska’s multiparty, ranked-choice voting system allowed the alternative Sullivan to make it to the general election. The Democrats’ apparent plan was to confuse voters in order to draw votes away from the incumbent Senator Sullivan, giving the victory to Peltola. Fortunately, the state has taken steps to ensure voters know which Sullivan is the incumbent Republican.
《纽约时报》解释说，共和党和民主党都参与过“选票堆叠”——即说服其他往往不为人知的候选人参选，以分走某位领先候选人的选票。
The Times explains that both Republicans and Democrats have engaged in “ballot stacking” — that is, persuading other, often unknown, candidates to run for office to draw votes from one of the leading candidates.
例如，《华尔街日报》报道，在1998年乔治亚州的美国众议院选举中，共和党人派出一名叫约翰·H·刘易斯 Jr.的候选人，对阵著名民权领袖、民主党现任众议员约翰·刘易斯。但那是共和党人对阵民主党人——并没有愚弄民主党选民。民主党人刘易斯以压倒性优势获胜。
For example, the Wall Street Journal reports that in a 1998 U.S. House race in Georgia, Republicans ran a candidate named John H. Lewis, Jr., against the famed civil rights leader and Democratic incumbent Rep. John Lewis. But that was a Republican against a Democrat — it didn’t fool Democratic voters. The Democrat Lewis won in a landslide.
据《纽约时报》调查，佩尔托拉和参议院民主党竞选委员会均否认参与招募替代候选人沙利文，但该调查削弱了这一否认，将民主党的竞选手段置于极为尴尬的境地。
Both Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reportedly deny any involvement in recruiting the alternative Sullivan. But the Times investigation undermines that denial, shining a very awkward light on Democratic tactics.
这并非本选举季民主党使用肮脏手段的唯一案例。蒙大拿州是一个非常红的州，民主党正寻找击败共和党候选人库尔特·阿尔梅的最佳机会。阿尔梅是一名前美国检察官，正竞逐一个空缺的美国参议院席位。
That’s not the only instance of dirty Democratic tricks this election season. Montana is a very red state, and Democrats were looking for their best chance to beat the Republican candidate, Kurt Alme, a former U.S. attorney who’s running for an open U.S. Senate seat.
民主党候选人是阿拉尼·班克黑德，一位有色人种女性、退役空军中校和联邦特工。据班克黑德向《此美国生活》讲述，她起初资金和支持都很少，直到正面广告开始出现，伴随着直邮和社交媒体宣传。她与赞助这些广告的政治行动委员会没有任何联系，也不知情。
The Democratic candidate is Alani Bankhead, a woman of color, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and federal agent. As Bankhead told her story to This American Life, she had little money and support until positive ads started appearing, along with mailers and social media. She had no contact with or knowledge of the political action committee sponsoring the ads.
这些广告大大提升了她的形象，她轻松赢得了民主党初选。随后，广告戛然而止。她不知道原因。
The ads greatly boosted her image, and she easily won the Democratic primary. Then the ads stopped, cold turkey. She didn’t know why.
原来，还有一名独立候选人也在竞逐这个参议院席位——塞思·博德纳，西点军校毕业生、退伍军人，更重要的是，蒙大拿大学校长。
It turns out that there’s an independent also running for the Senate seat — Seth Bodnar, a West Point graduate, former veteran and, importantly, president of the University of Montana.
班克黑德认为，民主党帮助她赢得提名，目的是让她退出竞选，以便民主党支持独立候选人博德纳。博德纳被视为温和派，也是击败阿尔梅的最佳选择。
Bankhead believes Democrats helped her win the nomination with the goal of getting her to drop out of the race so Democrats would back the independent, Bodnar. He is considered a moderate and the best option for beating Alme.
如果这是民主党的计划，它失败了，尽管曾有大规模的公开施压要求她退出。班克黑德表示，她是民主党候选人，无意退出。目前，共和党候选人在民调中领先。
If that was the Democratic plan, it failed, even though there was a major public push to get her to drop out. Bankhead says she is the Democratic nominee and has no intention of dropping out. So far, the Republican candidate is leading in the polls.
另一个可疑的民主党做法，主要在2022年被提及，是民主党花费数百万美元支持极右翼MAGA共和党候选人参加初选。目标是让最难当选的共和党人赢得初选，从而让民主党候选人在大选中更容易获胜。
Another dubious Democratic practice, which we mostly heard about in 2022, was Democrats spending millions of dollars backing far-right MAGA Republican candidates in their primaries. The goal was to get the most unelectable Republicans to win their primaries so the Democratic candidates would have an easier road to win in the general election.
《华盛顿邮报》2022年报道了这一做法，并提供了一些广告。据该报报道，“民主党花钱帮助三位更偏右的候选人赢得伊利诺伊州、马里兰州和宾夕法尼亚州州长选举的初选。”他们还在加利福尼亚州和科罗拉多州的某些选举中使用了这一策略，但未成功。
The Washington Post reported on the practice in 2022, along with providing some of the ads. According to the Post, “Democrats have spent money to help a trio of further-right candidates win primaries in governor’s races in Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania.”They also used the strategy, unsuccessfully, in certain races in California and Colorado.
《华盛顿邮报》称，一些广告听起来像是攻击候选人过于保守。但其意图是吸引最保守的选民支持这些候选人，从而削弱任何更传统的共和党候选人。
The Post says that some ads sound like attacks that the candidate was too conservative. But that was meant to draw the most conservative voters to those candidates, undermining any more traditional Republican candidates.
当然，最肮脏的伎俩属于2016年克林顿竞选团队资助如今已被证伪的“斯蒂尔档案”。2022年，联邦选举委员会对民主党全国委员会和克林顿竞选团队处以11.3万美元罚款，理由是该委员会“发现有‘合理理由相信’竞选团队和全国政党‘错误报告了某些支出的目的’”，据《政治》杂志报道。
Of course, the dirtiest trick belongs to the 2016 Clinton campaign’s funding of the now-discredited “Steele dossier.”In 2022 the Federal Elections Commission fined the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign $113,000 after it “found ‘probable cause to believe’ that both the campaign and national party ‘misreport[ed] the purpose of certain disbursements,’” according to Politico.
最近在阿拉斯加和蒙大拿州的策略可能不违法，但卑鄙且愤世嫉俗。州和联邦层面的共和党人正在调查。遗憾的是，这些行为为两党在大多数选民最不希望政治更肮脏的时期，玩更多肮脏伎俩打开了大门。
The recent tactics in Alaska and Montana may not be illegal, but they are slimy and cynical. Republicans at the state and federal levels are investigating. Sadly, the actions open the door for even more dirty tricks by both parties at a time when the last thing most voters want is dirtier politics.
梅里尔·马修斯是“我们的共和党遗产”组织的德克萨斯州州主席。
Merrill Matthews is the Texas state chair of Our Republican Legacy.