The Trump administration intensified criminal and civil investigations on Friday into the Alaska U.S. Senate race, following allegations that Democratic operatives recruited a third-party candidate to siphon votes from the Republican incumbent. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued at least 36 subpoenas to the campaign offices of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola as part of a criminal probe. The investigations come days before the November 3 midterm elections, where the Alaska contest is expected to influence which party controls the Senate.
The federal actions follow a report by the New York Times earlier this week alleging that Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher, to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. U.S. Attorney for Alaska Michael Heyman stated on Friday that the report prompted a surge of FBI resources and that several prosecutors are now handling the case. Peltola, the DSCC, and the retired teacher have all denied coordinating the recruitment effort.
In addition to the subpoenas, the Trump administration filed a civil lawsuit on October 23 and a revised version on October 29. The filings seek to prevent Alaska from certifying the election results if the incumbent loses and ask a federal judge to ensure the preservation of ballots that may be impacted by voter confusion. President Trump, speaking at a rally in Florida on Friday, described the situation as "voter fraud at the highest level" and stated that he personally directed the legal action.
The scale of the federal involvement includes at least 36 subpoenas in Alaska and legal challenges against approximately 30 states to obtain unredacted voter rolls. The administration is also investigating alleged noncitizen voting in California. For the 49 million Americans who have already cast early ballots—a record for a midterm election—these legal challenges introduce a degree of uncertainty regarding how and when their votes will be finalized. Nonpartisan groups like the Campaign Legal Center stated that these lawsuits could lay the groundwork to challenge election results after the polls close on Tuesday.
What happens next depends on several court rulings and the upcoming Tuesday election. In Alaska, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason fast-tracked a briefing schedule on Friday for state officials and the Peltola campaign to respond to the government’s request to block certification. President Trump is scheduled to hold campaign rallies in Iowa and Kansas over the weekend. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders have stated that if they win control of either chamber of Congress, they intend to launch their own investigations into the Trump administration's actions.