The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign are concerned that Alaska officials won’t stand up to federal pressure after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit this week that preemptively lays the groundwork to challenge the state’s Senate results, new court filings show.
The DOJ argues that having a third candidate on the ballot, Daniel J. Sullivan, who shares a name and party affiliation with incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), could confuse voters.
The DSCC, Peltola campaign and several voting rights organizations filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit Friday night, saying they believe Alaska election leaders won’t represent voters’ interests should the DOJ’s lawsuit succeed. Local officials’ past actions — including a state election board’s June decision to leave Dan J. Sullivan off the midterm ballot — made them appear partial to the federal government’s wishes, the filings assert.
“Defendants may have incentives to settle the case on terms favorable to DOJ in order to avoid potential retaliation from DOJ,” the DSCC and Peltola’s campaign wrote in a joint filing.
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Two voting rights groups, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause, also filed a motion late Friday to join the suit, similarly citing the last-minute move by the DOJ and its potential to delay certification of the state’s results in November.
“Even if the United States were within shouting distance of a plausibly pleaded claim, dismissal of this bizarre, eleventh-hour stunt suit would still be required,” the groups wrote, noting the lawsuit “asks the Court to preemptively nullify Alaska’s U.S. Senate election and disenfranchise Alaska voters without any legal basis whatsoever.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche said Saturday that the DOJ’s mission is not to stop the election’s certification but to ensure that the ballots are “preserved in a manner so that only Alaska’s governing officials have the information necessary” to determine whether voters were confused or misled.
“The lawsuit was written by Justice Department attorneys and the Department did not coordinate with any campaign or candidate, but rather relied solely on federal law,” Blanche wrote on X.
On Thursday, 13 days before Election Day, the DOJ sued Alaska election officials, including Alaska’s Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, asking authorities to investigate voter intent if the incumbent Dan Sullivan loses on Nov. 3, which could lead to a delay or dispute in certifying the tight race’s election results. President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that he was the one to tell government lawyers to move forward with the lawsuit.
The groups argue that state officials may fear reprisals from the Trump administration if officials don’t comply with the government’s requests, calling the DOJ lawsuit “part of a nationwide attack on free elections by the federal government.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also decried the government’s decision to file a lawsuit in a post on X late Friday.
“Alaskans don’t 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’s ballot,” the senator wrote.
In June, the Alaska Division of Elections removed Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher running as a Republican against Sen. Dan Sullivan, from the ballot, citing concerns his candidacy could confuse voters at the booths.
Daniel J. Sullivan appealed the decision to the state superior court, arguing the ruling was unlawful and asking the court to overturn the decision and put him on the ballot for the August primary.
The Alaska Supreme Court agreed, and Daniel J. Sullivan was added to the ballot without a party designation. Dan Sullivan is listed as “Incumbent Dan Sullivan.”
In its lawsuit, the DOJ claimed that two similarly named Senate candidates could threaten the “integrity of the election process.”
The DOJ requested the court bar the state from certifying its election results if the senator doesn’t win, arguing that if those who voted for Daniel J. Sullivan meant to vote for Sen. Sullivan, the senator may have won the election based on Alaska’s ranked-choice system.
Depending on the election outcome, the DOJ also wants to investigate whether voters intended to cast a ballot for Daniel J. Sullivan and not Sen. Sullivan.
Absentee ballots were mailed out Oct. 9, and in-person early voting began Oct. 19. Alaska’s voting period on Election Day doesn’t end until midnight or later ET, meaning results for the crucial Senate race will be rolling in well into the next day.
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