Democratic organizations and voting-rights advocates moved late this week to join a federal court fight against the Department of Justice, asking a judge to toss out a lawsuit that seeks to halt certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate election results if Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan loses.
Court filings submitted Friday came from Alaskans for Mary, the campaign of Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, alongside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Separate filings were submitted by the League of Women Voters of Alaska, Common Cause and two individual voters, according to CNBC and NBC News. The intervenors argue that the executive branch has no constitutional or statutory authority to dictate state election administration, particularly after early voting has already started.
Dispute Over Identical Names
The Justice Department filed its complaint on Oct. 22, targeting Alaska election officials. The dispute stems from candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, a non-incumbent challenger without party registration whose name closely mirrors that of the incumbent Republican senator, Daniel S. Sullivan. State election officials initially disqualified the challenger in June after an objection by the state Republican Party, but Alaska courts ordered his reinstatement. The Alaska Supreme Court subsequently affirmed that ruling, directing officials to make the distinction between both men explicit on ballots.
Under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting format, the ballot lists the sitting senator as the “incumbent” and a Republican, while the challenger has no declared party. Nevertheless, the federal lawsuit asks the court to bar state officials from certifying the contest if the incumbent loses and if transferring all votes cast for the challenger to the incumbent would have handed the senator a victory.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he personally instructed the agency to take legal action. “I’m the one that said ‘do it,'” Trump said, according to CNBC and PBS News, calling the challenger’s bid corrupt and alleging that Democrats placed him on the ballot to sow confusion. Daniel J. Sullivan has denied those accusations.
Debate Over Federal Authority
Attorneys representing Peltola and the DSCC described the federal lawsuit in court documents as “an unprecedented pre-emptive strike on democratic elections,” NBC News reported. They argued that the Department of Justice wrongly assumed any ballot cast for the independent candidate was an accidental vote meant for the senator. The groups expressed skepticism that state defendants would aggressively resist the federal government, noting that Alaska’s Division of Elections had initially tried to remove the challenger earlier this year.
The League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause noted that the federal complaint provides no viable process to determine voter intent, warning that freezing certification would disenfranchise citizens and deny the state representation in Congress. Voting-rights groups pointed out that the National Voter Registration Act, which the Justice Department cited as legal grounding, does not empower federal officials to oversee ballot design or candidate qualification.
The lawsuit sparked immediate bipartisan blowback. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska stated on social media that the Department of Justice should never have initiated the case, CNBC reported. David Becker, an election expert and former federal civil rights attorney, told PBS News that election administration is strictly a matter of state law, calling the federal effort to block certification days before the election unprecedented.
Contradictions and Next Steps
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche pushed back against critics on Saturday, claiming on social media that the lawsuit does not attempt to prevent certification, Democracy Docket reported. However, the department’s filed complaint explicitly requests an order barring Alaska from certifying the outcome under specific vote scenarios while an investigation is conducted.
The federal court has not yet scheduled a hearing date for the motions. The Senate contest is rated a “toss-up” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, representing a crucial target as both major parties compete for control of the chamber.
