Prisoner standing for Congress could sway key election race 3,000 miles away from his cell

A man who served 20 years in a New York state prison for threatening government officials has been cleared to run for Congress in Alaska, where he could influence a crucial race for control of the House of Representatives .

Eric Hafner, 33, pleaded guilty in 2022 to making threats against police officers, judges and others in New Jersey.

Despite never setting foot in the state, he is running for Alaska’s congressional seat against incumbent Democrat Mary Peltolta and Republican Nick Begich.

In September, State Court Judge Ian Wheeles in Anchorage rejected a request from the Alaska Democratic Party to remove Eric Hafner from the November ballot.

He is running as a Democrat who says of Peltolta: “I really don’t care if she doesn’t get re-elected.”

Hafner ran for Congress as a Republican in Hawaii in 2016 and as a Democrat in Oregon in 2018. His mother Carol, who also never visited Alaska, ran for the same seat in 2018.

In 2022, he pleaded guilty to sending email and phone threats to judges, police and lawyers while living in Ireland between 2016 and 2018. He also reported false bomb threats.

With the Republican Party currently holding an eight-seat majority in the House of Representatives, Peltolta’s right-leaning seat could be key to who comes to power in January.

Alaska has an open primary system, which allows the top four votes, regardless of party, to advance to the general election.

Hafner originally finished sixth in the primary, with just 467 votes, but was placed on the general election ballot after two Republicans, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and Matthew Salisbury, who finished third and fourth, respectively, withdrew.

Peltola, Begich and Dahlstrom were the most prominent candidates in the race, receiving 97.4% of the votes together.

Matt Shuckerow, a Republican strategist in Alaska, called his chances of hurting Peltolta “legitimate and real.”

This is an extremely tight race and every vote will count,” he added.

Hafner claims innocence in the case and says he is in prison because he accepted a plea deal while in poor mental health caused by poor treatment in prison and bad legal advice, according to court records. New York Times.

The issues facing the state – climate change, conservation and indigenous rights – align with the issues he cares about most.

If he wins, he plans to apply for parole and move to Alaska.

“I didn’t expect it to turn out like this, like everyone is spending all this money to get me off the ballot,” he said. “If it blows up in their faces, great.”

Attorneys for the Democratic Party of Alaska said state elections officials made a mistake in placing Hafner on the ballot and that he did not meet the requirements to serve in Congress.

They also said his participation in the vote would complicate the party’s efforts to get Peltola re-elected.

It will “confuse voters by presenting them with a candidate, presumably a Democrat, who the plaintiffs do not support and who would have no right to serve if elected,” party attorneys David Fox and Thomas Amodio said in a lawsuit .

Members of the House of Representatives must constitutionally be at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and be a resident of the state in which they are running if elected.

Four of the 12 candidates in the Alaska House primary, including Hafner, listed campaign addresses outside the state.

Hafner’s declaration of candidacy, filed with the state Division of Elections, lists a federal prison in New York as his current mailing address.

In a brief order, a split court affirmed a lower court ruling in a case brought by the Alaska Democratic Party; Judge Susan Carney disagreed.

Peltola is trying to stave off the GOP’s efforts to reclaim the seat that Republican Rep. Don Young held for 49 years before his death in 2022.

Peltola, Yup’ik, won special and regular elections for the seat that year and became the first Alaska Native in Congress.

Begich, who was endorsed in this race by former President Donald Trump, was one of the opponents Peltola defeated in 2022.

Peltola has tried to distance herself from presidential politics, refusing to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris while also saying she is not voting for Trump.

During the debate, she said she doesn’t see the world through a partisan lens and focuses on her own race. She declined to say whether she would vote for Harris.