USAupdated 44m ago3 min read
Archive photo · 2 June 2025Alaska Seeks Dismissal Of Justice Department Suit Over Senate Race Vote Certification
“Republicans contend Daniel Sullivan entered the race to draw votes away from the incumbent”
“while there is no proof, it is highly plausible that schoolteacher Dan Sullivan entered the race to steal votes”
Photo: Daniel Torok, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Alaska asks federal court to dismiss DOJ lawsuit seeking to block Senate race certification. State argues DOJ overstepped authority; case centers on confusion from same-name candidate Dan Sullivan.
Alaska court fight
Alaska filed a motion to dismiss a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to stop Alaska officials from certifying the results of the Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan loses, and the state argued the Trump administration has no standing to sue over the inclusion of the Petersburg Sullivan on the ballot.
Rachel Witty filed the Monday motion on behalf of Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher and the state election and ballot-counting review boards, and the filing said Alaska’s ranked choice voting system provides a relief to any voter confusion because anyone unsure which Sullivan they would like to support could choose to rank both.
The motion described the ballot’s unusual steps, with the challenger listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. with no party affiliation and the senator referred to as Dan S. Sullivan, the Republican incumbent.
The state argued that if the court sided with the Trump administration, it "would cause the harm the United States says it wants to avoid by undermining confidence in the election," and it added that the United States has no legally cognizable interest in securing a particular election outcome.
The state also said the federal complaint should be dismissed because it "fails to state a claim for violation of the National Voter Registration Act," the only federal law the Justice Department’s complaint cited.
DOJ, ACLU, and Murkowski
The Justice Department lawsuit alleges that the appearance of another candidate on the ballot, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., would mislead voters, and President Donald Trump confirmed he had ordered the DOJ to file the lawsuit.
Sophia Lin Lakin of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project said, "There is no merit to this claim," and she argued the courts shouldn’t be used to "launder baseless claims into distrust in our elections."
Lisa Murkowski criticized the lawsuit and said, "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."
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the lawsuit and told CNN’s "State of the Union" that the administration is not trying to overturn state election results "in any way, shape or form" and that the legal challenge was an necessary step to avoid confusing voters.
The Hill described senators bracing for a potential floor fight over accepting the results if Trump urges allies to dispute what he might view as unfair or "rigged" results, and it quoted Sarah Binder saying, "There’s no single charted pathway here."
What is at stake
The dispute centers on whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. would have changed the winner under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, and the Justice Department’s complaint seeks to block certification if the incumbent senator loses and "he would have won if the votes for either Sullivan went to him."
The state’s motion warned that any open-ended investigation into the identity of voters "would gravely threaten the integrity of the electoral process," and it argued that the federal government’s complaint should be dismissed for failing to state a claim under the National Voter Registration Act.
The Hill framed the stakes as a potential Senate floor fight over seating Mary Peltola if Alaska certifies her as the winner and Trump calls on Senate allies to reject that finding, and it said the situation could set up a messy floor fight.
Fox News reported that Sen. Adam Schiff accused the DOJ of trying to "subvert" elections, while Republicans argued the same-name candidate was meant to confuse voters, and Schiff said, "They have already adjudicated this question."
In the background of the legal fight, the BBC reported that Mary Peltola paused midterms campaigning after sustaining "minor injuries" in a car crash, and it noted the Alaska Senate race takes place on 3 November and is classified as a "toss-up" by the Cook Political Report.
