WASHINGTON – The Trump administration’s Department of Justice has preemptively filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the certification of Alaska’s high-stakes U.S. Senate election if Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan loses the contest. The legal challenge, reported by CNN, targets the presence of a second candidate on the ballot sharing a similar name, raising unprecedented constitutional questions about executive branch intervention in state-run elections.
President Donald Trump publicly confirmed that he ordered the legal action, telling reporters in Florida on Friday that he personally directed the administration to take the step. The battle for control of the U.S. Senate could hinge on the Alaska race, where incumbent Dan S. Sullivan is facing Democratic challenger Mary Peltola in a closely watched contest.
Targeting a Ballot Rival and Potential Voter Confusion
The Department of Justice lawsuit centers on the presence of Daniel J. Sullivan, a registered Republican who is listed on the ballot without a party affiliation and shares a nearly identical name with the incumbent senator. Federal attorneys argue that voter confusion caused by the second candidate could siphon critical votes away from the Republican incumbent, potentially throwing the outcome to the Democratic challenger.
According to the complaint, the federal government suffers injury when election certifications are tainted by what it labels as frivolous candidacies that undermine public confidence. The DOJ is asking a federal court to declare unlawful the certification of any result impacted by voter confusion and to halt certification until an investigation can determine whether votes meant for the incumbent were miscast.
Legal scholars have expressed skepticism regarding the administration’s novel legal theory. Derek Muller, an election law professor at Notre Dame Law School, told CNN that the lawsuit relies on a strange and unusual interpretation of federal voter registration law, plucking language from statutory prefaces to justify executive intervention in state election administration in a manner he had never previously witnessed.
State Officials and Lawmakers Push Back
The federal intervention has triggered swift condemnation from state officials and members of Congress, who argue the executive branch is overstepping its constitutional boundaries. Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski sharply criticized the move in a post on X, emphasizing that Alaskans are capable of selecting their preferred candidates and noting that the state has already distinguished the candidates clearly on the ballot.
State courts have previously reviewed the matter. In June, ahead of the state’s primary election, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that Daniel J. Sullivan should remain on the ballot after the state’s Division of Elections had initially sought to remove him. State election officials subsequently added middle initials, identified the incumbent as such, and omitted party labels for the non-incumbent candidate to mitigate confusion.
Campaign representatives also weighed in sharply against the federal filing. Harry Child, a spokesperson for Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, characterized the lawsuit as a political threat to overturn an election and vowed to protect lawful voters from outside interference. Meanwhile, Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Sen. Dan Sullivan, stated that the incumbent campaign would let the Department of Justice complaint run its course while focusing on the senator’s legislative record.