Peltola, Democrats and ACLU ask judge to dismiss Justice Department suit over Alaska Senate count

By Teresa Valdane

WASHINGTON — Mary Peltola’s campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and a coalition of Alaska voters and civic groups have asked a federal judge to let them join and dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit over the Alaska Senate election, setting up an early legal fight over a race that polls show is tight, the Anchorage Daily News reported, eight days before the Nov. 3 election.

The department sued the state, its elections director and its ballot review boards on Oct. 22 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. Its complaint asks the court to bar Alaska from certifying a Senate result “that may be impacted by voter confusion,” which it defines as a case in which Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses but would have won had every vote cast for a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., gone to him instead. It cites the National Voter Registration Act and says “there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity.”

Attorney General Todd Blanche said Saturday that the suit is meant to preserve information for state officials, not to stop the count. “The Department of Justice does not seek to stop any ballot from being cast or to stop the certification of Alaska’s election,” he wrote on social media, according to the Anchorage Daily News. He said the litigation seeks to ensure that “only Alaska’s governing officials have the information necessary to make a determination as to whether Alaskan voters were confused,” and that it “was written by Justice Department attorneys and the Department did not coordinate with any campaign or candidate, but rather relied solely on federal law.”

President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he directed the suit. “I’m the one that said do it,” he said, as Politico reported. Trump has called the second Sullivan a “fake” candidate who could draw votes from the senator. The Washington Inquisitor sought comment from the White House and the Justice Department on Monday.

The motions to intervene

The motion filed Friday by the Alaskans for Mary campaign and the DSCC asks Judge Sharon L. Gleason to let them intervene as defendants and to dismiss the case. “Alaskans, apparently, must elect Senator Dan S. Sullivan or the President will not let them elect anyone at all,” it says.

The filing argues that the voter registration law “regulates voter registration and has literally nothing to say about which candidates are listed on the ballot or how they are displayed,” and that the second Sullivan’s place on the ballot “raises a question of Alaska law that was litigated and definitively resolved by the Alaska Supreme Court months ago,” the Daily News reported. It also questions whether the state, led by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, will “vigorously defend” the case, given the elections division’s earlier effort to remove Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the ballot.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Alaska filed a separate motion on behalf of two Alaska voters, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause, along with a proposed motion to dismiss, according to the ACLU’s case page. “In Alaska, Alaskan voters choose our elected officials, not the president,” said Lu-Anne Haukaas Lopez, executive director of the ACLU of Alaska.

The Alaska Department of Law said Friday it was reviewing the lawsuit and had no comment, according to the Daily News. The case is United States v. State of Alaska, No. 3:26-cv-00376.

The two Sullivans

The dispute over the second Sullivan predates the federal suit. The Alaska Republican Party filed a complaint on June 10 arguing that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy was a bad-faith effort to confuse voters, and elections director Carol Beecher removed him from the ballot on June 15, according to the ACLU’s summary. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that state law required him to be listed.

The general election ballot identifies the senator as “Dan S. Sullivan,” the Republican incumbent, and the challenger as “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” with no party affiliation, the Daily News reported. The challenger, a retired Petersburg teacher, has denied trying to mislead voters and said he is running because he believes the senator is doing a poor job; he had no immediate comment on the federal suit.

In the August top-four primary, Peltola, a former congresswoman, led with 49.5% of the vote, Sen. Sullivan had 41.4%, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. had 2.5% and Republican Gerald Heikes had 1%, according to the Daily News. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting in the general election.

The campaigns

Peltola called the suit “the exact kind of corruption Alaskans are tired of” and said it reflects “desperation, honestly, and a complete lack of respect for Alaskans and their vote,” the Daily News reported. Sen. Sullivan’s campaign said it had “no prior knowledge of this lawsuit and no role in it.”

The Inquisitor’s earlier report on the complaint has more on the relief the department is seeking. Democrats count Alaska among the seats they need to win to regain a Senate majority.

The Inquisitor also sought comment from the Peltola and Sullivan campaigns, the ACLU of Alaska and the Alaska Department of Law.