{"id":892848,"date":"2026-10-24T08:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T08:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/892848\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T08:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T08:50:12","slug":"campaigns-attorneys-weigh-in-on-trumps-doj-suit-to-block-election-results-if-sen-sullivan-loses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/892848\/","title":{"rendered":"Campaigns, attorneys weigh in on Trump\u2019s DOJ suit to block election results if Sen. Sullivan loses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"President Donald Trump greets Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, at a campaign rally at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center on Oct. 13 in Wasilla. (AP Photo\/Lindsey Wasson) <\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop Alaska officials from certifying the results of the U.S. Senate race if Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses his reelection bid, and calling for an investigation into whether votes cast for a namesake challenger were intended for the incumbent.<\/p>\n

Attorneys and lawmakers have decried the move, labeling it legally unfounded and a political maneuver.<\/p>\n

With early voting already underway in the Nov. 3 general election, the lawsuit<\/a> could create a legal hurdle if Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola defeats the Republican senator in the closely watched race. <\/p>\n

The race for Alaska\u2019s Senate seat is seen as one of a few battleground contests<\/a> that could determine whether Democrats flip control of the chamber.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that the presence of retired Petersburg educator Dan J. Sullivan, a Republican who shares the same first and last name as the incumbent, on the ballot \u201cthreatens to mislead Alaskan citizens who want to vote for Senator Sullivan.\u201d <\/p>\n

Peltola finished<\/a> eight points ahead of the incumbent Sullivan in the primary, garnering 49.5% of the vote compared to Sullivan\u2019s 41.4%. Polling ahead of the general election indicates the contest between the two front-runners may be a toss-up. The Petersburg Sullivan received 2.5% of the vote in the primary.<\/p>\n

Republican President Donald Trump told reporters Friday morning<\/a> that he directed the Department of Justice to file the case. While Peltola\u2019s campaign accused Sullivan of designing the suit as a last-ditch effort to sway the results in his favor, Sullivan\u2019s campaign said they had \u201cno prior knowledge of this lawsuit and no role in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorneys from Alaska and Outside<\/a> have questioned the lawsuit\u2019s legal basis, arguing that an investigation into voters\u2019 intent after an election would be impractical and that the complaint\u2019s reliance on the preamble of the National Voter Registration Act is weak. <\/p>\n

Scott Kendall, an Anchorage attorney who has supported Alaska\u2019s ranked choice voting system among other election-related issues, said on social media: \u201cIf a 1st year law student handed this to me, I\u2019d give it a D-.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit asserts that if Sen. Sullivan were to lose the general election, and \u201chad all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska\u2019s rank-choice process played out accordingly, Senator Sullivan would have won the election,\u201d that the Alaska Division of Elections must not certify the election results \u201cpending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alaska\u2019s other Senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, condemned the move in a statement Friday afternoon. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlaskans don\u2019t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year\u2019s ballot. The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit,\u201d Murkowski said.<\/p>\n

Whether the Petersburg Sullivan should be allowed to appear on the ballot has already been affirmed in state courts. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled<\/a> that Dan J. Sullivan is eligible to appear on the ballot, rejecting an appeal by the director of the state Division of Elections, who previously declared<\/a> that the namesake challenger filed for candidacy \u201cwith a purpose to confuse or mislead.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Petersburg Sullivan has maintained that he is running for the seat because he believes the incumbent has not done a good job of serving Alaskans or representing their interests.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, poses for a photograph outside his home in Petersburg on Sept. 22. (Loren Holmes photo) <\/p>\n

The Division of Elections determined how the candidates would appear on the ballot. The incumbent is listed as \u201cSullivan, Dan S.\u201d with the label \u201c(Registered Republican) Incumbent.\u201c His namesake challenger is listed as \u201cSullivan, Daniel J. Jr.,\u201d with no labeled party affiliation.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is set to be assigned to a federal judge in Alaska who will decide how to proceed with the case. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit names Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, in her official capacity, as a defendant as well as the state election and ballot-counting review boards. The lawsuit sets up the state of Alaska, which previously argued that the Petersburg Sullivan\u2019s candidacy was not in good faith, to choose whether to defend the federal government\u2019s calls not to certify election results if Sen. Dan S. Sullivan does not prevail.<\/p>\n

State Department of Law spokesman Sam Curtis said in a statement Friday that \u201cthe Division of Elections and the Department of Law are focused on running the ongoing election and giving voter\u2019s confidence that their votes will count. This also includes assisting voters and avoiding voter confusion \u2014 whether through the information in the Official Election Pamphlet, asking questions of a poll worker, or bringing others to assist you with voting as permitted by law. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe complaint is being reviewed, and we do not have any comment on the litigation,\u201d Curtis said in the statement.<\/p>\n

The Petersburg Sullivan said in a text message Friday that he had \u201cno comment for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018One of the most frivolous lawsuits\u2019<\/p>\n

Jonathan Diaz, director of voting advocacy and partnerships at Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., said the filing was among \u201cthe most frivolous lawsuits\u201d he had ever seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Justice \u2014 which is supposed to represent all Americans, all of us \u2014 filing a lawsuit less than two weeks before Election Day, trying to block election results that haven\u2019t even happened yet is so crazy, and is reflective of this administration\u2019s overall approach to the midterm elections, and consistent with a pattern of behavior that that they\u2019ve undertaken over the last year and a half, that shows a total disregard for the Constitution, the law, American democracy and voters,\u201d Diaz said. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit\u2019s call for an investigation into voters\u2019 intent is particularly unusual, Diaz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expression of a voter\u2019s intent is the ballot itself. You cannot then go back and look at a ballot and decide if the voter intended something else. That\u2019s just not how voting works,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n

During his campaign visit to Alaska to stump for Sen. Sullivan<\/a> last week, President Donald Trump called Dan J. Sullivan a sham candidate propped up by Democrats to confuse voters.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sen. Dan Sullivan speaks at a rally for Republicans headlined by President Donald Trump at the Menard Memorial Sports Complex in Wasilla on Oct. 13. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) <\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly criticized the challenger on social media. Earlier this week, he wrote that his administration was \u201clooking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the Ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told reporters on Friday that the lawsuit was filed at his directive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the one that said do it,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Campaigns respond<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Sullivan, Nate Adams, said that the campaign played no role in the lawsuit, and that Peltola\u2019s assertions that Sullivan was involved were \u201ccategorically false.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll let the DOJ complaint run its course. Alaskans can tell the difference between a Democrat sideshow and Senator Sullivan\u2019s strong record of delivering for Alaska, a record he\u2019ll keep building on for the next six years,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n

Peltola took the opportunity to criticize her opponent and his support of Trump on Friday evening. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very much that it\u2019s interference and very corrupt,\u201d Peltola told reporters at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the exact kind of corruption Alaskans are tired of, and you know, I think this is a perfect example, 11 days from the election of corruption and desperation, honestly, and a complete lack of respect for Alaskans, and their vote, and the desire for Alaskans to talk about affordability, and how crushed we are getting by these prices on account of the 14 times that Dan Sullivan has voted in favor of this war in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Mary Peltola speaks to Alaska Public Media staff before the start of the Debate for the State against her Senate opponent Dan Sullivan, left, in Anchorage on Oct. 15. (Marc Lester \/ ADN) <\/p>\n

Eric Croft, chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, echoed the response from the Peltola campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cDan Sullivan is scared he\u2019ll lose and that\u2019s why he\u2019s looking to any corrupt, desperate method to win. But let\u2019s be clear: Alaska voters decide Alaska elections. Not politicians, and not anyone from the Lower 48. Every vote will be counted, and Alaskans will make their voices heard at the ballot box in a free and fair election,\u201d Croft said.<\/p>\n

On Friday evening, Alaska GOP Chair Carmela Warfield released a statement commending the Trump administration for filing the lawsuit. <\/p>\n

\u201cRanked choice voting has already made Alaska\u2019s elections unnecessarily complicated,\u201d Warfield said. \u201cA candidacy that trades on voter confusion only makes the problem worse and highlights the failures of this voting scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The entire world is watching\u2019 Alaska\u2019s Senate race<\/p>\n

The Division of Elections plans to release<\/a> initial tabulated results on Nov. 18. In the weeks between Election Day and the first set of tabulated results, officials will drop preliminary results showing first-place votes, before the ranked choice voting tabulation is completed.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Andrew Gray, an Anchorage Democrat who serves as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said he is concerned that if control of the Senate hinges on Alaska\u2019s race, the wait for results could invite further legal challenges and more federal scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire world is watching, and it\u2019s just two weeks for the president to spiral more out of control,\u201d said Gray.<\/p>\n

Gray said he believes the lawsuit falls outside federal jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur elections are state controlled; they are not federally controlled, and really, President Donald Trump\u2019s opinions of what should or shouldn\u2019t happen in our elections should not matter,\u201d Gray said. \u201cAnd I hope that the folks in charge understand that and stand up to him because that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to require.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked in hindsight whether Dan J. Sullivan should have entered the race, given the legal challenges his candidacy has prompted, Gray said he supports the challenger\u2019s right to run. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe controversy and chaos has been manufactured. It is not something that was caused by Dan J. Sullivan. He had a right to run. He had a right to file. He has a right to be on the ballot,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n

Daily News reporters Alex DeMarban and Iris Samuels contributed from Anchorage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump greets Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, at a campaign rally at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[315845,23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-892848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-2026-alaska-state-elections","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}