Dan Sullivan Voting Rights Election Denial Alaska

Trump's Justice Department Sued to Stop Alaska From Certifying Its Senate Election — but Only if Republican Dan Sullivan Loses

Days before Election Day, the Justice Department asked a federal court to block Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate result if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses by fewer votes than a second, unrelated candidate named Dan Sullivan received. 'I'm the one that said do it,' Trump told reporters. A Notre Dame election-law professor called it 'one of the worst' legal arguments he's ever seen.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 24, 2026

Trump's Justice Department Sued to Stop Alaska From Certifying Its Senate Election — but Only if Republican Dan Sullivan Loses — Photo: Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon, via States Newsroom

Late on Thursday, October 22, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Alaska's election officials. The lawsuit asks a federal court to stop the state from certifying the result of its U.S. Senate race — but only in one situation: if the Republican, Sen. Dan Sullivan, loses.

More precisely, it targets one outcome. If Dan Sullivan loses, and he would have won had every vote cast for a second candidate named Dan Sullivan gone to him instead under Alaska's ranked-choice count, the Justice Department wants Alaska's result frozen pending an investigation.

The next day, President Trump told reporters whose idea it was: "I'm the one that said do it," States Newsroom reported.

The other Dan Sullivan

There are two Republicans named Dan Sullivan running for the Senate in Alaska. One is the sitting senator, Dan S. Sullivan. The other is Dan J. Sullivan, from Petersburg.

The state first kept Dan J. Sullivan off the August primary ballot, saying his candidacy was "filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead" voters. The Alaska Supreme Court overturned that. He finished third, with 2.5% of the vote, which put him on the four-person November ballot.

The senator has called his namesake's campaign fake and a trick to deceive Alaska voters, Alaska Beacon reported, and he and his supporters have cast Dan J. Sullivan as a spoiler. Dan J. Sullivan told the New York Times, "My intention is not to trick people."

Whatever anyone thinks of the second Dan Sullivan, Alaskans already decided he could be on the ballot — through their courts. And Alaskans are already voting.

Trump announced the plan first

On Wednesday, October 21, Trump called the race "totally confusing" on Truth Social:

"We are looking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the Ballot, and holding the Democrats accountable for their Election Interference, in the pursuit of Justice and Fairness."

On Thursday, Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to rule out blocking states from certifying their elections. "Is there any scenario? Yes, of course there's scenarios that we could all come up with, hypothetically, you know, some doomsday scenario," Blanche said. Hours later, his department sued Alaska.

Experts: "absurdly thin"

The lawsuit leans on a line in the preamble of the National Voter Registration Act — a 1993 law about registering voters — that says one of its purposes is "to protect the integrity of the electoral process."

Derek Muller, an election-law professor at the University of Notre Dame, called it "one of the worst" legal arguments he's ever seen. "Some, in a panic, might react that the Department is trying to deny certification of an election in a state," Muller wrote. "Of course that's what the Department is trying to do. But the legal claim is so absurdly thin, there's essentially no likelihood of success."

Not just Alaska

The same week, the Justice Department went to a federal appeals court to try to stop California from counting about 20,000 ballots from voters it says are probably noncitizens unless they prove their citizenship. We've reported on how the department gave California 48 hours to stop counting ballots from people on a list it won't explain.

The election-law expert David Becker, who worked in the Justice Department's voting section under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, called the California case "exceedingly weak."

The administration's past attempts to change how states run elections have mostly failed. The Supreme Court blocked proposed limits on mail ballots, and federal judges threw out Justice Department lawsuits demanding states' sensitive voter data. But with the midterms days away, it is trying again.

What we know

On the president's orders, Trump's Justice Department sued to stop Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate election if Republican Dan Sullivan loses by fewer votes than a second Dan Sullivan — a candidate the Alaska Supreme Court cleared to run — received. Trump said "I'm the one that said do it," his attorney general wouldn't rule out blocking other states' certifications, and a Notre Dame election-law expert said the case has "essentially no likelihood of success."