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Trump says he ordered DOJ lawsuit to block Alaska’s Senate result if Sullivan loses
Federal government’s filing against state would apply if Peltola wins and votes cast for Dan J. Sullivan are enough to change the outcome
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
This is a developing story.
The Trump administration on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking to block the results of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan loses and the votes cast for namesake challenger Dan J. Sullivan, a Republican retired teacher from Petersburg, are enough to change the outcome.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday he ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to file the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Anchorage against the State of Alaska and state election officials, including Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher. Her removal of Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot earlier this year for similar reasons alleged in the lawsuit was overturned by the Alaska Supreme Court.
The justices upheld a lower court ruling that state law restricts the discretion of elections officials to whether a candidate meets the constitutional requirements of the office sought — and motives aren’t included in those qualifications.
Beecher responded to the ruling by taking unprecedented measures in listing the two Sullivans on the ballot. Dan S. Sullivan is the first candidate in the state to ever have "incumbent" listed next to his name, while Dan J. Sullivan’s name was altered to "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." and lists no party affiliation, also a first.
The Trump administration — like Beecher, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and many of his supporters — alleges Dan J. Sullivan is a sham candidate intended to confuse voters. Most of those accusations also claim the challenger’s effort is being coordinated by supporters of Democratic challenger Mary Peltola.
“The sole purpose of (Dan J. Sullivan’s) candidacy is to benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing the number of votes for Senator Sullivan,” the federal government lawsuit claims.
"To guard against this danger, it is vital that Defendants not certify any election result that may be impacted by voter confusion. An election result may be impacted by voter confusion if: (1) Senator Sullivan does not win the election; and (2) had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska’s rank-choice process played out accordingly, Senator Sullivan would have won the election."
The lawsuit states the election should not be certified until “an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.” How such an investigation would occur is unknown since ballots are cast anonymously.
"Such factual investigation is essentially impossible (the best evidence that voters preferred one Sullivan over another is how they marked their ballots) and a reason why parties bring ballot access cases before the ballots are printed rather than after, so such a factual caveat is largely meaningless," Derek Muller wrote in a post Friday at the Election Law Blog.
Peltola and Dan S. Sullivan are locked in a tight race that could decide which party controls the U.S. Senate, with most polls showing Peltola with a small lead of 2% to 3%. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, plus other prominent Republicans, have made appearances in Alaska during the past two weeks on behalf of the Republican incumbent.
Dan J. Sullivan, in an email to the Juneau Independent on Friday, stated "This morning's news was a surprise to me and I will need some time to understand what it means. Thanks for your patience."
He has previously denied the accusation of trying to confuse voters or that the Peltola campaign is behind his candidacy. He was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party until it was formally dissolved in January, and said the Republican Party mostly closely aligns with his beliefs, but he is disappointed with the incumbent senator’s actions.
“It’s a free country,” he told Courthouse News in August. “Most Alaskans are proud independents, and it’s my sincere hope that people know who and what they are voting for, but ultimately, choice is good and voters’ intent will be as varied as the candidates who are running.”
Harry Child, a spokesperson for the Peltola campaign, said in a prepared statement Friday that “This is a despicable political threat to overturn an election, designed by Senator Dan Sullivan’s allies to suppress the voices of Alaskans because Sullivan is terrified he’ll lose the seat that has allowed him to enrich himself at Alaskans' expense for over a decade."
"We will fight to ensure every single eligible voter in Alaska can make their voice heard and that no bureaucrat or politician from the Lower 48 can interfere with our lawful, secure elections,” Child added.
A statement issued Friday by Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Sen. Dan S. Sullivan’s campaign, declared "We'll let the DOJ complaint run its course.”
“Alaskans can tell the difference between a Democrat sideshow and Senator Sullivan's strong record of delivering for Alaska,” Adams added.
Sam Curtis, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Law, told the Juneau Independent on Friday that "we are reviewing everything right now." But he said the department is not yet able to respond to specific allegations in the lawsuit — or how it might proceed given that the state as the defendant essentially agrees with plaintiff’s arguments.
The Associated Press on Friday reported "The Trump Department of Justice has increasingly been used to bolster the president's political operation, targeting his enemies and filing lawsuits against Democratic-controlled states in the run up to the election. Democrats and many voting rights advocates have long feared the Trump administration will try to block certification of elections the president's party loses much as Trump unsuccessfully tried to do when he lost the 2020 presidential election."
The federal government’s lawsuit seeking to nullify a loss by Sen. Dan S. Sullivan largely repeats the accusations detailed in Beecher’s attempt to remove Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot. It also notes the results of the Aug. 18 primary — when Peltola got 49.5% of the vote, Dan. S. Sullivan 41.4% and Dan J. Sullivan 2.5% — and current polls suggesting the general election will be a tight race.
The lawsuit also invokes Alaska’s ranked choice voting, which many Republicans — including Trump — have criticized and sought to eliminate. A ballot measure to repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries — and eliminate some campaign finance restrictions — is on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
"Some supporters of Senator Sullivan likely will inadvertently vote for Daniel J. Sullivan," the lawsuit alleges. "Other supporters of Senator Sullivan likely will be confused as to how to rank the three Republican candidates as to defeat Peltola. They might not rank Senator Sullivan at all, resulting in votes for Daniel J. Sullivan to be transferred to Peltola after Daniel J. Sullivan’s all-but-guaranteed elimination in the first or second round of tabulations."
David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, a nonpartisan group that advises election officials, told The New York Times he cannot recall a similar instance in which the federal government sought to block certification of an election, “and certainly not 11 days before an election.”
“D.O.J. making this claim this late smells of political interference and is against D.O.J. policy,” he told the newspaper. “The feds have absolutely no authority to tell Alaska when and how to certify. The state officials are following Alaska state law, as the Constitution requires.” He said he expected the courts to reject the administration’s lawsuit.
The case is before Judge Sharon L. Gleason, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, according to The Washington Sun.
Muller, at the Election Law Blog, states "the legal argument is one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen."
"In short, like many Department letters over the last few years, it is designed to win the press release rather than the litigation. This one simply takes the form of a complaint," he wrote.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
