The Trump administration has filed a complaint block certification of Alaska Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses race as another candidate of the same name is on the ballot, kicking off what many feared could become a long battle between the U.S. government and the states to certify an election where the president’s party is in trouble.
Many in both parties believe that the fight for control of the Senate could return to Alaskawhere Sullivan faces Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman. Also on the Alaska ballot is one Daniel J. Sullivan of small fishing community of St. Petersburg. He said he decided to run alone, but Republicans claimed he was a Democratic mill designed to siphon votes from their candidate.
The trial Thursday by That of Republican President Donald Trump The Justice Department in federal court in Alaska demands that the state be blocked from certifying a Peltola victory if Daniel J. remains on the ballot. “The United States therefore brings this lawsuit to protect the integrity of the 2026 Senate elections in Alaska,” the lawsuit states, asserting that federal law requires states to protect the integrity of federal elections.
The Alaska Supreme Court rejected a previous Republican effort to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot, and state Republican officials made the decisions on how to put him on the ballot. He will appear without a party designation next to his name, while the senator will be listed as the incumbent Republican president. Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system will also allow voters to select both men if there is a mix-up.
The senator’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did Daniel J. Sullivan, whose presence on the ballot is at issue in the lawsuit.
The Justice Department is increasingly being used to support the president’s political operations, targeting his enemies and prosecuting Democratic-controlled states ahead of elections. Democrats and many voting rights advocates have long feared that the administration would try to block certification of elections that Trump’s party loses, just as he unsuccessfully tried to do when he lost the White House race to Democrat Joe Biden.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said this was unlikely outside of extreme circumstances. “It is not the intent of the DOJ, and it is never our intent, to inappropriately interfere with elections or the state certification process,” he told reporters Thursday in Virginia before the lawsuit was filed.
The lawsuit was signed by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who represented Trump allies and the Jan. 6 defendants before becoming a top appointee at the department.
Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the trial would likely only happen if Republicans narrowly lost the Alaska Senate race and he said the lawsuit did not appear to have legal merit. “The law simply does not allow the Department of Justice to require certification,” he said. “The lawsuit may well be driven by a wide Democratic victory or a narrow Republican victory, and if not, the court will likely throw it out next month. »
The U.S. Constitution grants states the power to conduct their own elections. Elections for federal offices like the Senate must meet standards set by Congress. This division of power has frustrated Trump, who has repeatedly tried to take control of election procedures through executive orders that the courts have blocked.
The final step in a national election is to officially certify the winner, an act the administration’s lawsuit seeks to block. The process in Alaska is complicated by the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which Trump opposes, and many expect it will take weeks before a winner is known. The ballot also includes a measure to repeal this system.
Trump complained about Daniel J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot, referencing it at a rally in Alaska this month and in repeated social media posts, including one this week where he called it “CHEATING.”
“We are exploring powerful legal options to remove fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the ballot and hold Democrats accountable for their election interference, in the interest of justice and fairness,” the president wrote Wednesday.
Clogging a ballot with third-party candidates to siphon off votes from the other major party is a long-standing tactic in the country’s two-party system. Republicans have been associated with an effort to persuade Ohio voters to support a socialist in that state’s Senate race, which could help Republican Sen. Jon Husted fend off a challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
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