POLPolitics NO. ---

DOJ sues Alaska to block Senate certification if Sullivan loses

President Trump said he ordered the suit, which hinges on Daniel J. Sullivan, a same-name candidate whom Alaska courts restored to the ballot. Peltola led the August 18 primary with 49.5% against 41.4% for Sen. Sullivan.

By Rowan Ashby Published 23.10.26 17:16 UTC Updated 24.10.26 08:02 UTC 9 min read

Official US Senate portrait of Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska — United States Senate / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain · Source

Update, October 24, 2026

Trump says he ordered the suit. Speaking to reporters in Florida on the afternoon of Friday, October 23, President Donald Trump said he personally directed the Justice Department to file the case. "I'm the one that said, 'do it,'" he said, according to PBS NewsHour (story updated 18:27 UTC), ABC News and Alaska Public Media. ABC News reported that he also said: "The Daniel J. is the fake."
Department statement. In a statement on Friday, a Justice Department spokesperson said Alaska's Division of Elections had itself determined that Daniel J. Sullivan's candidacy "was intended to mislead voters." The spokesperson said the department is acting under the National Voter Registration Act, ABC News and PBS NewsHour reported.
Campaign reactions. Sen. Sullivan's spokesman, Nate Adams, said the campaign would let the complaint "run its course," according to ABC News, PBS NewsHour and Alaska Public Media (published 21:20 UTC). Alaska Public Media reported that he said the senator had no prior knowledge of the lawsuit. Peltola's campaign called the suit "a despicable political threat to overturn an election," ABC News and Alaska Public Media reported.
Court status. Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees the Division of Elections, did not return requests for comment, Alaska Public Media reported. As of 08:00 UTC on October 24, no ruling from Judge Sharon Gleason had been reported.

Key takeaways

President Trump said on October 23 that he ordered the lawsuit. Sen. Sullivan's campaign said it will let the case "run its course," and Peltola's campaign called it a threat to overturn an election.
The US Justice Department sued Alaska and its election officials on October 22, 2026, asking a federal judge to block certification of the US Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses and the votes for a second, same-name candidate could have changed the result.
The suit centres on Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg whom the state tried to remove from the ballot in June. Alaska courts, including the Alaska Supreme Court, ordered him restored.
The department relies on the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Election-law specialists quoted by national outlets say federal law gives the department no power to delay a state's certification.
Democrat Mary Peltola led the August 18 top-four primary with 49.5%, against 41.4% for Sen. Sullivan and 2.5% for Daniel J. Sullivan. Election Day is November 3.

The Justice Department (DOJ) sued Alaska on October 22, asking a federal judge to block certification of the state's US Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. The DOJ says a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, could confuse ranked-choice voters.

The complaint was filed on Thursday, October 22, 12 days before the November 3 general election, according to the case page kept by Democracy Docket and reporting by NBC News. The state of Alaska and Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher are named as defendants, the Deseret News and the Juneau Independent report. Democracy Docket says the case has been assigned to US District Judge Sharon Gleason.

What the DOJ lawsuit against Alaska asks for

The relief sought is conditional. According to NBC News, the filing asks the court to block certification only if two things happen. First, Sen. Sullivan does not win. Second, he would have won if the votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan had gone to him and the ranked-choice count had then "played out accordingly."

Democracy Docket quotes the department as saying it is "vital that Defendants not certify any election result that may be impacted by voter confusion." The department wants certification held "pending an investigation" into whether votes for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant for the senator. The Juneau Independent notes that Alaska ballots are secret, so it is unclear how such an investigation could identify any voter's intent.

The filing was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, NBC News reported. It describes its purpose as protecting "the integrity of the 2026 Senate election in Alaska." A department spokesperson told the Deseret News that the department wants to make sure a "frivolous candidacy" does not undermine Alaska's election.

The legal theory: the National Voter Registration Act

The department argues that certifying a result shaped by voter confusion would breach the state's duties under the NVRA, the 1993 federal law best known for voter-registration and list-maintenance rules. Democracy Docket reports that the department ties the claim to the act's purpose of protecting the integrity of the electoral process. Published reports do not identify which section of the act the department says certification would violate.

The complaint, as quoted by CBS News, says Daniel J. Sullivan's candidacy "threatens to mislead Alaskan citizens who want to vote for Senator Sullivan." It also says some of the senator's supporters "likely will inadvertently vote for Daniel J. Sullivan," and others may be unsure how to rank the Republican candidates. The Juneau Independent reports that the suit calls benefiting the Peltola campaign the "sole purpose" of the candidacy.

Who is Daniel J. Sullivan?

Daniel J. Sullivan is a retired teacher from Petersburg, Alaska, according to Alaska Public Media and the Associated Press. The Juneau Independent reports that he was previously a member of the Alaskan Independence Party and has said the Republican Party is closest to his beliefs. He finished third in the August 18 primary with 2.5% of the vote.

Sen. Sullivan and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have argued that he is not a genuine Republican. In June, Alaska Public Media reported that they pointed to his past donations to Democrats, including Peltola. Daniel J. Sullivan has denied trying to confuse voters. In August he told Courthouse News that "it's a free country," according to the Juneau Independent. After the federal suit was filed, he emailed the Juneau Independent that the news "was a surprise to me" and that he would need time to understand what it means.

How the ballot fight reached the courts

Date (2026)	Event	Source
June 10	Elections Director Carol Beecher tells Daniel J. Sullivan she intends to remove him from the Senate ballot	Alaska Public Media
June 15	Beecher finalises the removal, concluding the candidacy was filed in bad faith	Associated Press via WTOP
June 29	Alaska Supreme Court affirms a Superior Court ruling restoring him to the ballot	Associated Press via WTOP; Ballotpedia
August 18	Top-four primary: Peltola 49.5%, Sen. Sullivan 41.4%, Daniel J. Sullivan 2.5%	NBC News; Juneau Independent
October 22	Justice Department files suit against Alaska and its election officials	Democracy Docket; NBC News
November 3	General election, decided by ranked-choice voting	Alaska Division of Elections

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews found that the elections division had relied on a new, previously unstated "good-faith" standard, the Associated Press reported. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld his decision. It sent the question of how the name should appear back to the division, to be settled within existing ballot-design law. The general-election ballot now lists the challenger as "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." with no party affiliation, and lists Sen. Sullivan as the incumbent. The Juneau Independent says this is the first time an Alaska ballot has used an incumbent label.

How Alaska's ranked-choice count works

Alaska uses an all-party primary, and the top four finishers advance to a ranked-choice general election. According to the Alaska Division of Elections, a candidate needs more than half of the votes in a round to win. If no one has a majority of first choices, the last-place candidate is eliminated. Ballots that ranked that candidate first then move to the voter's next choice. The rounds continue until two candidates remain.

That is the core of the department's argument. If a voter ranks Daniel J. Sullivan first by mistake and ranks no one else, the ballot drops out once he is eliminated. If the voter ranks Peltola second, the ballot moves to Peltola. Four candidates are on the Senate ballot, CBS News reports: Sen. Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan, Peltola and Republican Gerald Heikes. The Juneau Independent notes that a November 3 ballot measure would repeal ranked-choice voting and open primaries.

What election-law experts say

Election-law specialists have questioned the suit. Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official in the Obama administration and an NBC News contributor, told NBC News that no law lets the department challenge ballots or delay certification. He noted that the department's election role is limited to protecting civil rights and prosecuting election crimes.

David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research told The New York Times, as cited by the Juneau Independent, that he could not recall a similar federal effort, "and certainly not 11 days before an election." He added that federal authorities have no power to tell Alaska when and how to certify. Democracy Docket wrote that, given how speculative the claims are, it is unclear whether the case will survive motions to dismiss. Derek Muller, an election-law professor at Notre Dame, told the Associated Press, as published by PBS NewsHour, that the statute does not let the department block certification. He said the case could become moot once results are known and would likely be dismissed next month.

Responses from officials and campaigns

President Donald Trump has called Daniel J. Sullivan a "spoiler candidate," according to NBC News. In a Truth Social post reported by the Deseret News, he called the candidacy a "SCAM." Attorney General Todd Blanche said on the day of the filing that he was "not trying to not have an election certified," NBC News reported. He did mention a possible "doomsday" scenario in which the department might get involved. On Friday, October 23, Trump told reporters in Florida that he had ordered the suit, PBS NewsHour and ABC News reported.

The Alaska Division of Elections, the Peltola campaign and the Sullivan campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Juneau Independent on Friday morning. Later that day, both campaigns commented. Sullivan spokesman Nate Adams said the campaign would "let the DOJ complaint run its course." Peltola's campaign called the suit "a despicable political threat to overturn an election," according to ABC News and Alaska Public Media. Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who heads the Division of Elections, did not return requests for comment, Alaska Public Media reported. The Juneau Independent describes the race as close, with most polls showing Peltola ahead by 2 to 3 points. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans have campaigned in Alaska for Sen. Sullivan in the past two weeks, the outlet reported.

What it means

The lawsuit matters only in a narrow scenario: Peltola wins by a margin smaller than the vote share of Daniel J. Sullivan, and his votes would have changed the ranked-choice outcome. With polls showing a gap of a few points and the challenger at 2.5% in the primary, that scenario cannot be ruled out.

Certification also affects who controls the Senate. Democracy Docket notes that if Alaska does not certify, no senator from the state would be sworn in on January 3, 2027, and the seat would stay vacant until certification. In a closely divided chamber, a vacancy could matter for votes on nominations and legislation.

A ruling from Judge Gleason, and any appeal, could come before or after November 3. The case adds to a set of federal and Supreme Court fights over election rules before the midterms, such as the court's recent order on New Hampshire's student ID voting rule and the dispute between Washington and Ottawa over midterm interference claims. More coverage is in Bullquill's politics section and breaking news.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the Justice Department suing Alaska over the Senate race?

The department says a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, could confuse supporters of Sen. Dan Sullivan under ranked-choice voting. It asks a federal judge to block certification if the senator loses and the namesake's votes could have changed the outcome.

Who is Daniel J. Sullivan in the Alaska Senate race?

He is a retired teacher from Petersburg, Alaska. The state removed him from the ballot in June, but Alaska courts restored him. He took 2.5% in the August 18 primary and appears on the general-election ballot with no party affiliation.

Can the federal government stop a state from certifying an election?

Election-law experts quoted by NBC News and The New York Times say no federal law gives the Justice Department power to delay a state's certification. A federal judge will decide whether the suit can proceed.

Did Trump order the DOJ lawsuit against Alaska?

Yes. On October 23, 2026, President Trump told reporters in Florida that he was the one who said "do it," according to PBS NewsHour, ABC News and Alaska Public Media. Sen. Sullivan's campaign said the senator had no prior knowledge of the suit.

When is the Alaska Senate election?

The general election is on November 3, 2026, and it is decided by ranked-choice voting among the four candidates who advanced from the August 18 primary.