Trump Orders DOJ Lawsuit to Block Alaska Senate Certification

President Donald Trump stated on Friday that he ordered the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit seeking to block the certification of Alaska's Senate election results if the Republican incumbent loses. The lawsuit, filed less than two weeks before election day, centers on the presence of two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the ballot—incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan (Republican) and Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher also running as a Republican. The DOJ argues in its complaint that the presence of both candidates could cause "voter confusion" and that there is "a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity."

The federal government's legal theory rests on the claim that Daniel J. Sullivan's candidacy has "the sole purpose" of benefiting the Democratic nominee, Mary Peltola, by reducing votes for the incumbent. The DOJ is requesting a pause in vote certification pending an investigation into whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were intended for Senator Sullivan. However, legal experts have characterized the claim as exceptionally weak. Derek Mueller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, described the legal basis as "so absurdly thin, there's essentially no likelihood of success." David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, called the lawsuit "an unprecedented intervention by the federal government" and noted that the issue of two candidates with similar names had already been "fully litigated by Alaska's courts."

Election experts also raised practical and legal concerns about the DOJ's approach. Because voting is conducted by secret ballot in the United States, any investigation into voters' actual preferences after they have voted would be practically impossible to conduct. Additionally, experts questioned the broad interpretation of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act that the DOJ cited to justify the lawsuit. Becker stated he could not recall an administration "ever attempting to stop the certification of an election – and certainly not 11 days before polls close."

The Alaska Senate race has significant implications for Congress, with polls indicating a close contest between Senator Sullivan and Peltola, a former Democratic congresswoman. Trump has also targeted Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, adopted by voters in 2020, repeatedly calling it a "scam" and recently encouraging Alaskans to support a state ballot measure to repeal it. Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Daniel J. Sullivan is an "impostor" or a Democratic plant, while the retired schoolteacher from Petersburg has not publicly addressed these allegations.

The lawsuit draws criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) commented that Trump's admission of directing the DOJ action makes "clear who's calling the shots" at the Justice Department, while Senator Cory Booker characterized the action as "insulting Alaskan voters."