Justice Department sues to halt Alaska Senate certification

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to prevent the certification of a potential victory for Democratic Sen. Mary Peltola in Alaska. The Department of Justice seeks to stop the process until it determines whether voters were confused by a Republican candidate who shares his name and title with the incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.

The legal action follows reports that the Peltola campaign recruited Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired school teacher, to enter the race. Internal texts and communications, according to a New York Times report this week, show a Democratic strategist from outside Alaska was paid by a political organization backing Peltola for this effort. The recruitment process reportedly began in 2025, a year before Peltola announced her Senate run in January 2026.

Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system where the top four candidates in a primary advance to the November general election. In this specific race, Sullivan faces three challengers: Peltola, the state’s former House member, and two candidates who have barely campaigned, including the second Sullivan. Voters can rank three candidates, a structure that Republicans argue allows for ballot manipulation if a candidate with an identical name is present.

The administration’s move marks an unusual intervention in the final weeks of an election. The Justice Department typically avoids overt investigative actions within 60 days of a vote. However, officials said in a statement that the department is “following the facts and the law, not anyone’s political timetable.” The department issued subpoenas in a criminal investigation into the matter.

Peltola has denied involvement in the scheme, as has the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University who served as a Justice official during the Biden administration, said the tactic is common. “It may be distasteful, but it happens all the time,” Levitt said. “There is no behavior that has been disclosed that is in violation of federal law.”

Critics note that the tactic has historical roots. In 1946, supporters of John F. Kennedy recruited a janitor named Joe Russo to run against a four-term Boston city councilman of the same name in a Democratic primary. More recently, in Ohio’s Senate race, a group tied to the president’s political operation is urging voters to support a socialist candidate to pull votes from the Democrat challenging the Republican incumbent.

Jason Torchinsky, a veteran Republican campaign finance attorney and former Justice Department official, argued that Alaska’s system is prone to manipulation. Anyone who pays a $100 filing fee can end up on the primary ballot. Torchinsky called the situation “Exhibit A for how ranked-choice voting systems can be manipulated by various actors.” He noted that in traditional systems, candidates must secure a party nomination, often requiring tens of thousands of signatures.

Defenders of the voting system counter that it is harder to manipulate because voters can simply pick both Sullivans and not Peltola. Sullivan’s campaign is urging Alaskans to do exactly that. In the 2024 House race, Republicans supported keeping a New York inmate on the ballot who was a registered Democrat. Peltola lost that election.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, expects a judge to quickly reject the Justice Department’s lawsuit. He described the suit as “frivolous” if Sen. Sullivan does not win. The race could determine control of the U.S. Senate.

In a similar incident in Florida in 2020, a candidate named Alex Rodriguez won 6,382 votes as an independent, helping a Republican defeat a Democrat with the same last name by 32 votes. A former state senator involved in that scheme was convicted of illegal campaign contributions and falsifying a candidate form, receiving a 60-day jail sentence.