‘Democrat’ in Alaska’s House Race Is Doing Time in a New York Prison

In the midterm election’s closing days, the phones of left-leaning Alaskans pinged with texts urging them to back Eric Hafner, the lone Democrat on the four-person ballot for a U.S. House seat.

But Democratic Party leaders in Alaska and Washington were actually backing an independent on the ballot, Bill Hill, and for good reason: Mr. Hafner is a felon serving a 20-year sentence in a federal prison in Otisville, N.Y., about 4,351 miles from Anchorage.

Who paid for those text messages is of particular interest in Alaska, where purportedly dirty tricks by Democratic operatives put an alternative Dan Sullivan on the Senate ballot against the incumbent Republican, Senator Dan Sullivan.

Mr. Hafner’s unknown benefactor was likely hoping to confuse voters and aid the Republican incumbent, Representative Nick Begich. Democrats point to the texts as proof that nobody’s hands are clean in Alaska.

Mr. Hafner and his chief supporter — his mother — say the motive doesn’t matter, even as the mysterious outside help has elevated his jailhouse bid into a potential spoiler.

“Why should we care where they came from?” Ms. Hafner asked.