Alaska Senate candidate receives FBI subpoena days before election
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Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed longshot Senate candidate Gerald Heikes to testify before a grand jury and produce records related to political groups, as part of a DOJ investigation into alleged recruitment of spoiler candidates.
Federal prosecutors issued a grand-jury subpoena to Gerald Heikes, a third-place Senate candidate in Alaska, just days before the midterm election. The subpoena, signed by a senior official in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, requests Heikes’s electronic and paper records concerning the campaign of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola, several political action committees and operatives linked to those groups.
Heikes, a drywall contractor from Palmer, told CNN that he was not recruited by any operative but decided to run after an unnamed individual suggested he consider a Senate bid. He said he entered the race out of personal curiosity and denied any intention to siphon votes from other candidates.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation. Peltola has denied knowledge of any effort to recruit additional candidates. Earlier reporting indicated that newly created out-of-state PACs spent millions attacking incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski and supporting Heikes, though Heikes said he does not know who is behind the spending.
Heikes said FBI agents served the subpoena while he was working on a drywall job in a remote part of the state. He described the agents as “very polite” before they left.
The subpoena also seeks records related to the Elias Law Group, which represents both the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Peltola’s campaign, and to other PACs involved in the race. CNN reported that the Justice Department has sent target letters to more than a dozen individuals it believes participated in recruiting another longshot candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.