The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Alaska from certifying its Senate election results if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola while another candidate with the same name remains on the ballot.The case could trigger a wider legal battle between the Trump administration and state authorities over the certification of election results, particularly in races where Republicans face a risk of losing seats.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Alaska on Thursday, argues that the state must protect the integrity of federal elections. It asks the court to block the certification of a Peltola victory if Daniel J. Sullivan, a candidate from the small fishing community of Petersburg, remains on the ballot.“The United States accordingly brings this lawsuit to protect the integrity of the 2026 Senate election in Alaska,” the lawsuit says.Republicans have alleged that Daniel J. Sullivan is a Democratic plant intended to draw votes away from the incumbent senator. However, he has said he entered the race independently.
Two candidates with the same name on ballot
The Alaska Senate race has attracted attention because its outcome could help determine which party controls the Senate. Dan Sullivan is seeking re-election against Peltola, a former congresswoman.Daniel J. Sullivan will also appear on the ballot without a party designation, while the senator will be identified as the Republican incumbent. Alaska’s ranked choice voting system allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, meaning voters confused by the two names could select both.The Alaska Supreme Court has already rejected an earlier Republican attempt to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot. Republican officials in the state also made the decisions about how the two candidates would be listed.Neither the senator’s campaign nor Daniel J. Sullivan immediately responded to requests for comment.The Trump administration has increasingly used the Justice Department to pursue legal action against political opponents and Democratic-controlled states ahead of elections. Democrats and voting rights advocates have warned that the administration could try to prevent the certification of results in races lost by Trump’s party, drawing comparisons with the president’s unsuccessful attempts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden.US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department did not intend to interfere improperly in elections.“It is not DOJ’s intention to, and it’s never our intention to, improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process,” he told reporters in Virginia on Thursday, before the lawsuit was filed.The lawsuit was signed by Associate US Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who represented Trump allies and defendants in cases related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol before joining the department’s senior leadership.
Legal challenge faces questions over its merits
Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the case would probably become relevant only if Republicans narrowly lost the Alaska Senate race. He also questioned whether the lawsuit had a sound legal basis.“The statute simply doesn’t let the Department of Justice enjoin certification,” he said. “The lawsuit could well be mooted by a wide Democratic victory or a narrow Republican one, and if not, the court will likely dismiss it next month.”The US Constitution gives states the authority to administer their elections, while federal elections must also follow standards set by Congress. Trump has repeatedly sought to change election procedures through executive orders, several of which have been blocked by courts.Certifying an election is the formal process through which a state confirms the winner. The Justice Department’s lawsuit seeks to stop that process in a specific set of circumstances in Alaska.The state’s ranked choice voting system could further complicate the race. The system allows voters to rank candidates by preference, with votes redistributed as candidates are eliminated until a winner emerges. Trump opposes the system, and a separate ballot measure will ask voters whether it should be repealed. The final result could take weeks to determine.
Trump calls rival candidate’s presence ‘cheating’
Trump has repeatedly criticised Daniel J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot, raising the issue at a rally in Alaska this month and in social media posts.In a post on Wednesday, he wrote, “We are looking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the Ballot, and holding the Democrats accountable for their Election Interference, in the pursuit of Justice and Fairness,”In another post this week, Trump described the situation as “CHEATING.”Candidates with similar names have long been used in US elections in attempts to divert votes from a rival. Such tactics can be particularly significant in closely contested races.Republicans have also been linked to an effort to encourage Ohio voters to support a socialist candidate in that state’s Senate race. The move could help Republican Senator Jon Husted fend off a challenge from former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.
