Sullivan v. Sullivan Gets Even More Confusing

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That's AvocadoGreenMatress.com to get up to 20% off, AvocadoGreenMatress.com. Each Thursday, October 29th, and voters are seeing double. We start here. Reports that Democrats helped a chaos agent in Alaska are infuriating Republicans. Dan J. Sullivan, a candidate with almost the exact same name as the incumbent senator, Dan S. Sullivan. But meanwhile, a right-wing provocateur has been arrested for tampering with a polling place in Minnesota. Spanish officials say this high-speed rail crash was inexplicable. But that doesn't explain why it's not the only one the latest in a deadly trend. And Israelis still don't know who their next prime minister will be. Neither the Netanyahu coalition nor the opposition coalition have a majority of seats represented in the parliament. What it means for Benjamin Netanyahu and the entire Middle East. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milky. There are lots of ways to influence an election. One of the simplest campaigning. We are seeing a lot of that this week. Michigan, you and I have proved before. It's hard to stop change. So let's go out and do what we do best. And that's win on November 3rd. We got to win. President Trump won Florida by double digits two years ago. Well now, a New York Times Ciena poll shows Republican Ashley Moody leading Democrat Angie Nixon by just six points. You can also influence election by governing. That's why it's easier to win as an incumbent. And that is why Darling Graham had a huge boost by taking over her late brother Lindsey Graham senate seat in South Carolina. But now in this deep red state. Darling Graham has repeatedly said we have to have data centers. She finds herself in a dead heat with Democrat Annie Andrews. But there are still other ways to influence elections, right? Some wondered if yesterday's decision to keep interest rates where they are. Keeping stocks from plunging was Fed Chairman Kevin Wars throwing Republican candidates kind of a bone for the next week. Well then, there are even less reputable ways. Some refer to them as the dark arts. And yesterday, each party accused the other of working in the shadows to subvert the other. And in one of these cases, there were even arrests. We're going to start the day with two reporters who've been following these stories very closely. Lucien Brugerman is our senior investigative producer. Emily Chang is one of our campaign embeds. And Emily, you've specifically been covering Alaska for months now. So there are four people running for senate. Mary Peltola, Gerald Hikes, Dan Sullivan, and Dan Sullivan. There's two guys named Dan Sullivan. I can see why it would be confusing. Democrats are being accused of helping create this confusion. What's going on? That's right, Brad. So there are two Dan Sullivan's on the foray ballot for the Alaska Senate race. So before the primary election, Republicans sounded the alarm on this other Republican named Dan J Sullivan, a candidate with almost the exact same name as the incumbent senator, Dan S Sullivan. Republicans claimed that, you know, the lesser known Sullivan was this democratic plant that intended to siphon votes away from the incumbent and confuse voters. But he and the Democratic candidates campaign, Mary Peltola, as you mentioned, they have claimed no involvement. I feel like this is yet another diversion from the issue that Alaskans want to talk about, which is affordability. Then a bunch of legal action took place for Republicans. They attempted to get the newcomer Sullivan off the ballot, citing voter confusion. So that's a fraud. It's a fraud to the public. And they had a Dan Sullivan running against Senator Dan Sullivan. But the Alaska Supreme Court eventually cited with the new Dan Sullivan, Dan J Sullivan, to keep him on the ballot. Looking historically, Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Republican Senator for Alaska, who's currently serving right now, she was elected in 2010 as a writing candidate. So she wasn't even listed on the ballot, and she won a statewide election. And the current ballot has both Dan Sullivan's listed, but the incumbent is listed with the term incumbent, as well as Republican, while the other Dan Sullivan does not have those categories listed. And yesterday, the New York Times reported that top aides to Paltola instructed a staffer in the summer of 2025 to find as many people in the state of Alaska named Dan Sullivan in order to compete with the incumbent. Wait, so, okay. So that is exactly what Republicans had been warning was happening. They were like on rooftops being like, this is the Democrats, you guys, clearly trying to stoke confusion. Am I getting this right? The New York Times says that's almost exactly what happened. The Democrats were involved. Yeah, so according to the Times, the aides on Paltola's campaign had reviewed voting records for the Dan Sullivan's in the state and found this retired teacher named Dan J Sullivan. Allegedly, the effort included lawyers for Paltola's campaign and the Democratic National Sanitorial Committee. The Times said the effort was to find a spoiler candidate that was internally referred to as the ballot composition project, according to the New York Times. However, Mary Paltola's campaign told ABC that the campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and the DSEC also claims to have had no involvement. Wow, okay. So then that's a huge story. Again, this is the New York Times reporting this. ABC News is not independently verified this. But Shady, perhaps, Republicans certainly say it is, let's turn down to Lucien Bruggeman, because Luke, there was this incident in Minnesota yesterday where people were charged with illegally tampering with the vote there. What do we know about that? Yeah, Brett. And in contrast, I mean, none of this happened behind the scenes. This is election hijinks that nobody is trying to hide. We are charging two individuals. James O'Keefe and Cameron Higgby with felony counts of onlawful voting and identity theft. Prosecutors in Minnesota yesterday filed these felony charges. Against James O'Keefe, you might recognize the name. He's a famous or maybe infamous right-wing provocateur. He specializes in these undercover videos. Prosecutors in Minneapolis are accusing him and cam Higgby and other political content creator of violating state law. Brett, they showed up at a polling place in August, wearing burkas and using fake accents. Mr. O'Keefe and Mr. Higgby entered polling places in multiple instances. Identified themselves using names of registered voters in those precincts without those voters' knowledge or permission. They filmed everything. They're promoting it on social media. They said it was part of a video investigation to expose a state law that allows registered voters to vouch for the identity of other voters. And county prosecutors said it was a crime. Well, it makes me wonder. They're being charged by state prosecutors, right? So does it create attention with federal prosecutors or the Trump DOJ? Because the Trump White House has been insistent that there is voter fraud happening. And that seems to be what James O'Keefe claimed he was trying to uncover somehow. In a roundabout way? Yeah, Brad. You know, to be clear, there's no evidence that there's widespread voter fraud in the United States and Minnesota election officials were very quick yesterday to say that their elections are safe, they're secure. But yeah, this all comes sort of as the Trump administration seems increasingly fixated on voter fraud. Specifically, this concept that noncitizens are voting in mass. To be clear, again, there's very scant evidence that widespread noncitizen voting exists in the US. Certainly not enough to tilt the scales in an election, but that hasn't stopped the Trump administration from suing states for access to sensitive voter information threatening to throw election workers in jail. Generally, seeking to impose themselves on state run elections in really, really unprecedented ways. Right. In fact, voting experts who have said all the time that there is not widespread voter fraud are pointing to this now being like, yeah, the people who do try this stuff do get caught since they don't try very often. Which all brings me back, Emily, to the question of Minnesota, people are being charged with crimes. Alaska people aren't being charged with crimes. Is that the case that could the DOJ get involved in what the New York Times is claiming happened there? So the DOJ actually is already involved. They have an active criminal investigation into these circumstances surrounding Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy dating back several months. And last week, the Trump administration preemptively filed this lawsuit to block the certification of the Alaska Senate race if the incumbent Dan Sullivan loses the race. And they are citing name confusion among the candidates. But I feel that it's interference. I feel very much that it's interference and very corrupt. But as a reminder, Dan J. Sullivan, the lesser known Sullivan, he's been on the ballot since before the primary election. And the Alaska court's already looked at this case and they determined that, you know, nothing was illegal about his candidacy, even if the effort was not in good faith as the president and Republicans are alleging. But just yesterday, Attorney General Todd Blanche, he teased potentially more action from the DOJ in the wake of this New York Times article. So only time will tell. Really wild stuff here. All right. Emily Chang, Luke Bergman. Thank you both so much. You got it. Thanks, Brad. Thanks, Brad. Next up on start here, imagine going from 120 miles an hour to zero. We'll take you to the disaster scene in Spain after the break. This show is sponsored by Zip Recruiter. The holiday season is a time when you start seeing hiring everywhere. We all depend on people and seasonal jobs that time of year, whether it's holiday pet setters, snow plow drivers or gift wrappers at the department store. And if you're hiring for a seasonal employee yourself or for any other type of employee, you want to get someone in that role now before the holiday rush. So do it with Zip Recruiter. Zip Recruiter is the best way to find qualified people who are genuinely excited about your role. And right now you can try it for free at zipfrecruiter.com/starthere. With Zip Recruiter's powerful matching technology, you'll be able to hire the right person right now. 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If you've ever ridden the New York City subway before, you know they have these emergency breaks that any passenger can throw at any time in case of an emergency. Like if someone's coat is caught in the doors, the train starts leaving the station. One time I was on a train where that break was pulled and several people fell over. It was really dangerous and this train was going five miles an hour. The yesterday in Spain, a high speed train was traveling between Madrid and Seville, going more than 120 miles per hour when it slammed into another train sitting on the tracks. It might as well have been a brick wall. In total, 500 people were on board. Dozens are now dead and this wasn't even the only deadly incident on these rails recently. So let's take you to the city of Toledo right now, ABC's foreign correspondent Marcus Moore is on the scene Marcus. Can you just break down what happened here? Brad, first it is really just a horrendous scene. We are here about two hours south of Madrid and this is where crews overnight have been working to lift the debris from these crash trains to try to find any victims who might still be trapped inside. We know that on Wednesday morning, the trains collided just before 9 o'clock in the morning. We heard from officials about the death toll and it was expected to rise and we've also heard from witnesses, people who were on board these trains and really just described how in a moment they found themselves in the midst of a catastrophe. Suddenly, everything started falling apart. Bad news for the load. People talked about how they heard the sound of the crash, obviously people felt it as well. Some people were fine and others were really bad, really, really bad. And we had them in front of us and you could see them dying and you could do nothing. What we know is that this was a violent crash and one that happened in a very remote part of Spain and that added really to the urgency of this because a lot of people who were rescued then had to be taken away on helicopters to neighboring cities because there aren't hospitals readily available here and so a really a massive effort, Brad, and we're talking about just the enormity of it is truly unbelievable. Is there a sense as to how that happened, Marcus, that two trains end up on the same track like that? So what we understand from officials is that there was some type of computer glitch that morning and all of the trains, many of six trains on the track, all stopped because of this computer glitch. Then the transport minister says sometime after that, a few moments after that, the train controllers then gave one train permission to start moving again without any restrictions on speed. It is the control center with operators that makes the decision to resume movement. As I say, under circumstances that from our point of view are inexplicable. And we now know as you noted that this train was traveling at about 120 miles an hour when it crashed into another passenger train that was still stopped on the tracks. Now why that decision was made, we don't know the transport minister said that it was an unbelievable accident. And so there's certainly a lot of questions, mounting questions about how this happened and really how it could have happened again. Well again is the word, right Marcus, because I did not know, but this is not the first high-speed rail crash in Spain even this year. What has been happening and what's been the reaction? Yeah, that's right. Back in January, on these same tracks there was another crash where two trains collided head on and killed 40 people and there were dozens of injuries in that crash as well. And it really has added to the questions about exactly how this could happen again. And so that obviously is a central part of the investigation. But it's also the root of a lot of anger. We saw overnight hundreds of people demonstrating outside the transport ministry office in Madrid. They were throwing bottles and other projectiles at police officers. And we know that the officers also were using tear gas to try to disperse the crowd, but it does give you a sense of really the impact of this, not only on the human level obviously these families that have lost loved ones, but you also have a population, a country that is truly angry about this and certainly shocked that this could happen on the same tracks. What was such devastating results? Marcus Moore there on the scene right now in Toledo in Spain. Thank you so much Marcus. Thank you Brad. As voters went to the polls in Israel this Tuesday, a couple things were clear. One, this was an absolutely monumental election. Today is the critical day for Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu had not had his political life on the line like this since the October 7th attacks three years ago. Two, the Israeli public was extraordinarily fired up. We're talking close to 80% turnout beyond anything you'd ever see in the US. Three, it was tight. In fact, in the day since polls closed, both candidates have effectively given victory speeches. Let's go to ABC's Matt Rivers who is still on the ground in Jerusalem right now. Catch us up. Where do things stand right now? This was a real roller coaster of an election night Brad. The way this works, and I think it's important to tell people the way this works is this is a parliamentary system in Israel so people don't vote for candidates. They vote for parties. You cast your vote for a party and then it's up to those parties. The parties get a certain amount of seats in the parliament. They have to work together to form a majority coalition and then that's what ends up staffing the new government, the new prime minister, ministries, etc. What we're watching for is the amount of seats that each coalition, the opposition coalition and the coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the amount of seats they're going to win on election night. This is a very moving and fateful moment. My wife and I are truly overwhelmed. We know it is at stake and since I am not allowed to say things explicitly, I will say vote correctly. The first indication that we get of that is exit polls. So right after the 10pm closing of the polls, the exit polls come out. In Israel they're generally very reliable because it's such a tiny country. They don't have to poll as many people as you would, let's say, in the United States. And it shows that the opposition coalition is ahead, not by a lot, but by enough that there was a path, maybe not an easy path, but a path for the opposition leader, Gadi Eisenkot, to potentially form a government and become prime minister. So a lot of Israelis went to sleep thinking Netanyahu is out, it might take a little bit, but they're going to figure this out. To all the citizens of Israel, I can promise you right now that the error of failures and lies has come to an end. Then the actual votes start getting counted. And slowly but surely, those polls change, the numbers change, by the time a lot of Israelis woke up. on Wednesday morning, they said, wow, the coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu had actually pulled ahead. So right now, as we're talking, the difference is probably five, six seats with Netanyahu's coalition in the lead. But here's the key thing. Neither the Netanyahu coalition nor the opposition coalition have a majority of seats represented in the parliament, which means they can't just go ahead and form a government and declare their leader the prime minister. Like, this is not the sort of election where it's like, oh, he won by a vote. Therefore, Benjamin Netanyahu is still prime minister or vice versa. So how does this get sorted out? Like, what, what happens now? So now what's going to happen is we have to wait for all the votes to finally be counted. And that'll take another day or two more than likely. And then after that, it's kind of a technical process. So the president of Israel, who is different than the prime minister, right? President has to choose a party leader who he thinks has the best chance at forming a government. So at this point, we don't know who he's going to pick. Does he pick Eisenkott? Most of the population of Israel are sure that we need the change. And I hope the change will come. Does he pick Netanyahu? We're not sure. I vote for Liquid BB because I think he's the best man in the country to lead the country. But whichever person he picks, we'll try and form a government. They've got a month or two to try and do that and get to a point where they've got a majority coalition that is governable in the parliament. So he's giving the first crack to be like, hey, your party, you can form alliances with all these other parties. If you get a majority of everyone, then great, now you're in charge, but you have to do all that first. Exactly. And there is no guarantee that that works out because there's so much animosity between both sides here. The margins are so razor thin that there's no way to know exactly if that's going to work. But if for some reason that process doesn't work out, if they're not able to form a government and it stalemates, that would eventually lead to brand new elections here in Israel. That's a few months away, but that's very much a possibility at this point. What happens for now? Because it sounds like from you and from everyone else who we've been talking to, it's not like we're going to find out tomorrow or the next day could be weeks. What happens in the meantime? Like this is currently a country at war? What happens in the interim? It's a good question. And what ends up happening is that it's not like Israel goes without a government. Benjamin Netanyahu stays on his prime minister. His ministers stay on his their ministers. And that means that the adjacent policies that he has, the controversial policies in Gaza, the fact that he's in favor of the war in Iran, all of that still is on the table because he is still in control. And even if we were to get to the point where new elections would have to be called, he would remain prime minister until those elections were resolved. So you're talking about Benjamin Netanyahu as the prime minister more than likely for the foreseeable future. Even though he is a weaker politician today than he was earlier in the week, he lost seats. He lost his majority coalition. There is a world in which he does not emerge from this process as prime minister. At least in the foreseeable future, he will be the top dog in this country as he has been. Remember, this is the longest serving prime minister in Israel's history. And for now, that is going to continue. And for the American listener, why does that matter? That means that his president Trump weighs whether to strike Iran again. Who's he going to be talking to about striking Iran? Benjamin Netanyahu. When he talks about implementing the so-called peace plan in Gaza that President Trump wants to do. Who's his partner going to be in that? Benjamin Netanyahu. When he talks about raining in settler violence or the lack thereof in the West Bank, who does he have to talk to? Benjamin Netanyahu. So Netanyahu has become in a lot of what minds this inescapable presence in Israeli politics for decades now. And after these elections, when many thought, okay, finally, he's about to be ousted, that does not appear to be the case at least not yet. Yeah, exactly. And the war doesn't stop for any of these elections, both here or in Israel. All right, Matt Rivers. Thank you so much. Thanks, Brad. Okay, one more quick break. When we come back, it's the biggest game of the year, and it's going to be finished before school is even out. One last thing is next. Today, I want to tell you about our friends at Lug. If you're traveling the season, whether you're seeing family or catching some sun in a tropical destination, Lug can help you in your essentials, get everywhere you need to go. Lug makes sturdy premium-quality hard-sided wheelie bags for all kinds of travel. The hard shell means your stuff stays protected no matter what. No more worrying that your souvenirs will get destroyed when your bag inevitably gets tossed around by the ground crew. With four smooth 360-degree spinner wheels, it rolls on all surfaces like a dream, and the TSA-approved combination lock keeps your belongings secure from the moment you hand off your bag at the airport to the moment you open it up in the hotel. Plus, if you're worried it'll be too big or too small, Lug offers options in all sizes, even a carry-on that's regulation-size for the strictest airlines. They offer a huge range of colors, too. Ready to optimize your holiday travel? Build your travel lineup for more than 40% off with this unique deal for start-here listeners head to abcsecretsavings.com/starthere to get 40% off the lug bag that's right for you today, that's abcsecretsavings.com/starthere And one last thing, we're coming up on Game 6 of the WNBA finals. Game 5 ended in a win for the Golden State Valkyries, which could mean they win the whole thing tonight in Atlanta against the Atlanta Dream. Oh wait, did I say tonight? That was habit. I meant today, like a few hours from now. These games have been so good so far. What has stood out to you? What it's produced is this incredibly gritty grinded out kind of series. This is ESPN's Kendra Andrews, who covers the W year round, and she says scheduling has become a controversy all its own. What we have now is Game 6 at 12.30 in the afternoon for you Californians, tuning in, get your coffee ready, it's 9.30 in the morning. Now you might be wondering, why would any playoff basketball game let alone a potential championship decider be on a weekday at lunchtime? Well, by almost all accounts, terrible planning. For what I'm told, this is the best out of a bunch of bad scenarios. You see, in downtown Atlanta, there is the glittering 17,000 seat NBA venue called State From Arena, home to the Atlanta Hawks. The Atlanta Dream usually play at a more modest 3500 seat arena. In the playoffs, though, when fans are going crazy, you want to pack a big house. By the time the dream tried to book the State From Arena was already reserved, the Hawks have a game tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which leaves the dream to wrap up their game before school even gets out. The Atlanta Dream ownership group released a statement two nights before Game 6. Basically saying, "This is not what we fought for. We did not want a 1230 tip." Which raises the question, why do the women have to play in the afternoon? The men aren't in the playoffs. This is an early season game. Make them move. Kendra says, "It's not that simple." It's not a playoff game, but I think again, it's important to remember that the State From Arena is their building. They own the building. For one, it's not just up to the Hawks. They have broadcast partners, labor contracts. The guys just played a game last night, so you can't make their athletes then lace them up on five hours of sleep. The other thing is, the Hawks actually have already moved multiple games around for the dream. It just happened the other day. Earlier in the playoffs, they had to adjust games because of a somber concert. So we have an insane schedule shuffle, which now is leading to this matinee game. Kendra says it would be simpler, almost easier to label this an active misogyny. Oh, the WNBA is once again getting short-changed. In reality, she says, the more embarrassing truth is teams were told about potential conflicts months in advance. The WNBA, back in December of 2025, 10 months ago, sent internally to the WNBA teams the dates of these playoffs, saying we don't know what time these games are going to be at, but these are the dates market in your calendar. So what happened? So nothing happened, apparently. If anything, she says this whole debacle kind of hints at a lack of ambition. Teams don't want to book huge arenas then take a huge loss if no one comes. The thinking is more like if we do make it to the finals, but we'll find a better space then. She points out the Valkyries played a playoff game last year way out in San Jose because the Warriors arena wasn't available. Well, their owner vowed to never let that happen again. This year, they reserved all their home games, regular season and playoffs at San Francisco's Chase Center. Invest in women's sports in the WNBA. If you're an owner, invest in your team, put the money where your mouth is and give these women the platform that they absolutely deserve so that it doesn't come down to this kind of thing. Atlanta is hoping this won't be the end of their story. Ideally, they win today then go back to San Francisco for game seven. If the Valks win, they'll lift the trophy on the court, then rush to clear their locker room, spray the champagne on the plane. Either way, lots of teams will be making adjustments this off season. They'll sign new players, of course, the dreamers. will apparently book State Farm Arena for every home game next season, but at the very least, Kendra says, they should all be making one big investment. Can I wait for this game? The whole series has been super unpredictable so far. More on all these stories on ABC News live or every stream live news. I'm Brad Milky. See you tomorrow. The NBA on ESPN is happening now, and we're here from all of it. From the superstar moves to the next gym revolution, let's get who we are, boys. We don't just love it, we love it because the NBA is a world of its own. So from the biggest names to the biggest moments, ESPN is where you call home. Hey everyone, listen to the All's Fair official podcast. I'm your host, Evan Ross Cats. We'll sit down with the cast and unravel all of the irresistible drama of season two. People don't know the half of what goes on. We wanted to die. Okay, guys, let's give it to them. Watch and listen to the All's Fair official podcast available on Hulu, Hulu on Disney Plus, and wherever you get your podcasts. And don't miss All's Fair season two, now streaming with Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundles subscribers. Terms apply.