The United States Justice Department has sued to preemptively block Alaska from certifying the results of its U.S. Senate race if the Republican incumbent loses by a narrow margin — and President Donald Trump has openly claimed the lawsuit as his own idea.
"I'm the one that said do it," Trump told reporters on Friday, confirming he directed the department to file the case.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Anchorage, takes issue with a third candidate on the ballot: another Republican named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg whose name is nearly identical to that of incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan. The department alleges the challenger is running "with the intention of misleading supporters of Senator Sullivan into voting for him."
A lawsuit that only works one way
The complaint asks U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason to bar Alaska from certifying the result if two things happen: Senator Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola, and he would have won had every vote cast for Daniel J. Sullivan gone to him through the ranked-choice count. It also asks the court to declare that certifying such a result would violate the state's duties under the National Voter Registration Act.
The lawsuit only works in one direction. It seeks to hold up the results only if the Republican loses by a margin the other Sullivan's votes could cover. If the Republican wins, nothing happens.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency is taking "necessary steps to ensure that this frivolous candidacy does not undermine the integrity of Alaska's election or the will of its voters."
The other Sullivan: 4,107 votes in the primary
The numbers are what make the case so unusual. In the August primary, Daniel J. Sullivan took 4,107 votes — 2.5 percent — against 49.5 percent for Peltola and 41.4 percent for the senator. Polling since then has put Peltola ahead by two to three points. In a race this tight, a namesake pulling even a fraction of his primary vote could plausibly cover the whole margin.
Nothing about the namesake is hidden. Alaska's ballot lists the senator as the Republican incumbent, while Daniel J. Sullivan appears with no party label. The Alaska Supreme Court already let him stay on the ballot, and ranked-choice voting lets any voter worried about a mix-up rank both men. When Trump claimed the newcomer had never voted before, PBS NewsHour corrected the record on air: he has voted in Alaska races.
The Justice Department also contends that Daniel J. Sullivan changed his registration between the primary and general elections, that he is "a known longtime supporter of Democratic candidates," and that his campaign website "uses a format, color scheme and overall theme similar to the public website for Senator Sullivan's campaign." Carol Beecher, the director of the state Division of Elections, determined on June 15 that Daniel J. Sullivan hadn't declared a "good-faith candidacy" but instead "filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead" voters.
"Desperate" and "clearly corruption," says Peltola
Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola called the lawsuit both "desperate" and "clearly corruption."
"It is not playing well with Alaskans at all, and it's sending a message that Dan Sullivan does not believe that Alaskans are sophisticated enough to know exactly who they're voting for," Peltola, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in an October 23 interview.
Peltola's campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and two voter groups asked the federal judge in Anchorage on Friday to let them help defend against the suit.
Attorney General Todd Blanche pushed back on Saturday, writing on X that "the Department of Justice does not seek to stop any ballot from being cast or to stop the certification of Alaska's election." The complaint itself, however, asks the court to block certification "pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan." The complaint does not mention preserving ballots.
Experts call the case "absurd" — and worry about what comes next
Legal experts say the department's argument is exceptionally weak. Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, called the lawsuit "absurd" and said the department has "an exceptionally weak hand." Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, called it "abusive" and "nearly frivolous."
But Hasen warned the case is still frightening because of Alaska's remoteness, its complex voting procedures and the long time it takes to count ballots. "I am particularly concerned DOJ could try to seize ballots or voting machines," he said.
The lawsuit highlights the apparent willingness of the Trump administration to contest the results of the November 3 midterm elections that will decide control of the U.S. Congress. The administration has taken an increasingly aggressive approach to election oversight, pressing states for voter-registration data and arguing that stricter measures are needed to ensure public confidence in the vote. Critics, including both Democratic and some Republican election officials, view the moves as federal overreach.
Control of the U.S. Senate could come down to Alaska, where Senator Dan S. Sullivan, who has held the seat since 2015, is running a closely contested race against Mary Peltola. Alaska is among at least 10 battleground states this year that could determine control of the Senate.
Fuentes: Reuters, 23 oct 2026; USA Today, 23 y 24 oct 2026; The Wall Street Journal, 23 oct 2026.