President Donald Trump announced on Friday, October 23, 2026, that he ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to file a lawsuit seeking to block the certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate election results if Democratic challenger Mary Peltola wins. The lawsuit, filed late Thursday in federal court in Alaska, centers on the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot, whom the administration alleges is a "frivolous" candidate intended to mislead voters.
The legal action follows a history of state-level disputes over the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan, a resident of Petersburg, Alaska. The Alaska Division of Elections originally disqualified him in June for allegedly intending to confuse voters, but that decision was overturned by an Anchorage Superior Court judge and upheld by the Alaska Supreme Court on June 29. The Department of Justice now argues that certification should be delayed pending an investigation into whether votes for Daniel J. Sullivan were intended for the incumbent, Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan.
The lawsuit was signed by Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward and Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Bryan Wilson. It contends that federal law, specifically the National Voter Registration Act, requires states to protect the integrity of federal elections. Legal experts cited by the Alaska Beacon and PBS, including Notre Dame Law School professor Derek Muller, questioned the suit's legal basis, noting that the U.S. Constitution generally grants states the power to run their own elections.
In the August primary, Mary Peltola finished first with 49.5% of the vote, followed by the incumbent Sen. Sullivan at 41.4% and the challenger Daniel J. Sullivan at 2.5%. The incumbent's campaign spokesperson, Nate Adams, stated they would let the complaint run its course, while Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee executive director Devan Barber characterized the lawsuit as an attempt to "overturn the will of Alaska voters."
For individual voters, the immediate change is the potential for a weeks-long delay in knowing their representation. Under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, voters already have the option to list both "Dan Sullivans" in order of preference to mitigate confusion, but this federal intervention introduces a secondary review process not currently part of state law. The Department of Justice has not specified how many dollars or personnel will be dedicated to this investigation, nor have they provided a per-household estimate for the cost of such a federal audit.
The legal challenge sets a precedent for federal intervention in state-certified election processes based on candidate naming conventions. While the administration argues this protects election integrity, critics argue it interferes with the constitutional authority of states to manage their own ballots. The case has been referred to U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason. A specific hearing date has not been reported, but the outcome will likely depend on the margin of victory following the November 3 election.