(A)Political - October 24th

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Alaska Senate suit — The Justice Department asked a court to block certification if Sullivan loses to a ballot with two Sullivans on it. Two former senior FBI officials were charged by complaint regarding the Hunter Biden Laptop investigation. judge barred citizenship field interviews in nine states, 11 days before the midterms.

• The Justice Department Asked A Court To Block Alaska’s Senate Result If Republican Sullivan Loses

• Two Former FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress About the Hunter Biden Laptop

• Judge Barred DHS From Voter-Citizenship Field Interviews In Nine States Ahead Of The Midterms

The Justice Department Asked A Court To Block Alaska’s Senate Result If Republican Sullivan Loses

_{By: Atlas}

The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to bar Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate result if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola and a second Sullivan on the ballot may have drawn the votes that decided it. The election is Nov. 3, and early voting began Oct. 19. President Donald Trump told reporters Friday he ordered the suit.

The case, United States v. State of Alaska, is assigned to U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, according to the court docket.

A CourtListener archive copy of the docket, captured at 2:15 a.m. CT Saturday, showed no hearing, order or state response. Three motions filed Friday were pending: a pro se amicus request, a motion to intervene by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and a group called Alaskans for Mary, and a motion to intervene by the League of Women Voters of Alaska, Common Cause and two voters. The first intervention motion says “no deadlines have yet been set.”

What the complaint asks

The complaint carries a Thursday, Oct. 22, filing stamp in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. BBC, Courthouse News, NBC News and the Anchorage Daily News also report a Thursday filing. CBS News wrote that the department made its argument in a “court filing Friday.”

It names the State of Alaska, Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, the state’s election boards and its Ballot Counting Review Board. It makes one claim, under the National Voter Registration Act.

The department cites that law’s stated purpose to “protect the integrity of the electoral process.” It argues that certifying a result tainted by a “frivolous” candidacy would fail that duty.

The filing defines the result it wants blocked as one where Sullivan does not win, but would have won had every vote for Daniel J. Sullivan gone to him instead and Alaska’s ranked-choice count played out accordingly.

It asks the court to declare that certifying such a result would violate the law. It also asks for an order barring certification “pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.”

Under ranked-choice voting, the Division of Elections says on its website, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated if no one has a majority, and each of that candidate’s ballots moves to the voter’s next-ranked choice still in the race. The complaint says some senator supporters “might not rank Senator Sullivan at all,” so votes for Daniel J. Sullivan would transfer to Peltola.

The complaint says Daniel J. Sullivan ran “with the intention of misleading” the senator’s supporters, and that the “sole purpose of his candidacy is to benefit the Peltola campaign.”

Trump says he ordered the suit

Asked about the lawsuit Friday, Trump said: “Well, I’m the one that said, ‘do it,’” CBS News reported.

A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS the department filed “to ensure that this frivolous candidacy does not undermine the integrity of Alaska’s election or the will of its voters.”

NBC reported that Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters Thursday: “I’m not trying to not have an election certified. Of course not.”

Alaska officials and the campaigns respond

Sam Curtis, a spokesman for Alaska’s Department of Law, said Friday the department and the Division of Elections are “focused on running the ongoing election and giving voter’s confidence that their votes will count.” He added: “The complaint is being reviewed, and we do not have any comment on the litigation,” the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Peltola wrote on X, “This is the corruption AK is fed up with,” NBC reported. She told reporters Friday evening that she considered the suit interference, the Daily News reported.

Sullivan’s campaign spokesman, Nate Adams, said the campaign had no role in the suit. “We’ll let the DOJ complaint run its course,” Adams said, the Daily News reported. NBC reported Sullivan’s Senate office did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

Murkowski wrote on X, NBC reported: “Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot. The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.”

How the namesake got on the ballot

Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, is one of four candidates in the ranked-choice contest, along with the senator, Peltola and Republican Gerald Heikes, CBS reported.

On June 15, the Division of Elections, in a letter from Beecher, found he had not filed in good faith but to “confuse or mislead,” the complaint says. The complaint says the letter cited his request to appear as “Dan Sullivan” and his switch to the Republican Party immediately before filing.

On Friday, June 26, an Anchorage Superior Court judge ruled the Division lacked authority to impose a good-faith requirement that does not appear in the U.S. Constitution, state law or its regulations, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

On Monday, June 29, the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed that order, the Alaska Beacon reported. The court sent the matter back to the Division to decide how he would be listed and said a full opinion would follow. The complaint says none had been issued.

Daniel J. Sullivan texted the Daily News on Friday that he had “no comment for now.”

Legal critics and the calendar

David Becker, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research, called the suit “an unprecedented intervention by the federal government,” in a statement quoted by NBC.

Jonathan Diaz of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan group, called the filing among “the most frivolous lawsuits” he had seen, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The Division of Elections says ranked-choice tabulation begins Nov. 18 if no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes. Its 2026 election calendar lists Nov. 25 as the target date to certify the general election.

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