The Trump administration has sued to block certification of the Alaska Senate election if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses. The justice department argues that another candidate with the same name could confuse voters and lead some of them to cast ballots for the wrong person.
The federal lawsuit was filed on Thursday, ahead of the 3 November midterm vote. The government wants a judge to bar the state from certifying the results if Sullivan loses by a margin narrower than the other Sullivan’s result. Polls suggest the race against Democrat Mary Peltola is tight, with Peltola holding a narrow lead in the final days.
Justice Department argues voters could be confused
In the filing, the justice department said Alaska “will fail in its obligation to protect the integrity of its elections” if it certifies “any electoral results tainted by the inclusion on the ballot of Daniel J Sullivan.” Associate Attorney General Stanley E Woodward Jr. asserted that the second candidate’s sole purpose was to benefit Peltola’s campaign by reducing the senator’s vote count.
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Woodward argued that the candidate’s presence could “confuse or mislead voters” and “distort the will of Alaskan voters.” If Peltola wins and the margin of loss suggests possible confusion, the lawsuit asks that certification be delayed. It also calls for an investigation into whether voters were mixed up over the names, along with “necessary and appropriate” steps to determine what would have happened had the second Sullivan been kept off the ballot.
Second Sullivan denies any scheme against the senator
The second Sullivan, a retired teacher who also worked for the US Forest Service, has repeatedly denied the claims. A local newspaper reported that he had once been a member of the Alaska Independence Party before registering as a Republican earlier this year. He told that paper he “wouldn’t even know who to speak to” in Peltola’s campaign.
In a separate interview, he said it was his “sincere hope that people know who and what they are voting for” and added that “choice is good.” Earlier efforts to remove him from the ballot have already been rejected by the Alaska Supreme Court. For the November vote, Senator Sullivan will be listed as the Republican incumbent.
Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system, which means voters could select both Sullivans if they are unsure at the ballot box. Neither candidate has publicly commented on the lawsuit so far.
Trump backs the legal challenge as race draws scrutiny
Trump was asked about the lawsuit after landing in Florida for a campaign rally on Friday. “I’m the one that said do it,” he told reporters. He has previously referred to the second candidacy as a “scam” and said his administration was looking at “powerful legal options” to end it.
The Senate race in Alaska is among the most closely watched contests in the upcoming midterm elections. Trump won the state by 14 percentage points in 2024. However, his approval ratings there have been badly hit by voter disapproval of rising prices and the war in Iran.
