Trump Concocts Lawsuit to Help the GOP Steal Alaska Senate Seat
The only thing that the Trump administration's complaint — that seeks to award a close Alaska Senate election to the Republican candidate even if he loses — achieves is to reveal how far the Department of Justice has fallen.
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Back in July, we reported on the administration’s efforts to find somebody to indict over a curiosity in Alaska’s Senate race, in which two candidates have very similar names — incumbent Dan S. Sullivan (R) and retired school teacher Daniel J. Sullivan.
Apparently, even the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has abdicated its independence under Donald Trump and instead become a cudgel he wields to attack those who oppose him, has concluded that having the same name as someone else is not (yet) a crime in the United States, so, by his own admission, the president personally came up with a plan B.
On Thursday, DOJ filed a complaint that would block the certification of Democrat Mary Peltola if the vote total of the two Sullivan’s exceeds hers.
The department did not do so on its own volition but rather because Trump demanded it. We know this because the president bragged about it… on camera!
Trump on blocking certification of the Alaska Senate race if Dan Sullivan does not win:
"I'm the one who said do it" pic.twitter.com/mSB26csSXg
— FactPost (@factpostnews) October 23, 2026
And, of course, Trump’s Attorney General Todd Blanche, i.e., his former personal lawyer who has been shattering norms left and right by campaigning with the president and for Republicans, complied.
The complaint holds the legally dubious position that the two nearly identical names could confuse Republican voters, essentially saying that votes for the retired school teacher should just be given to the GOP senator.
Mind you, the ballot very clearly labels “Sullivan, Dan S.” as “registered Republican” and “incumbent,” while not adding a descriptor behind the name of Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.,” so voters would have to be pretty dense to not be able to figure out who the incumbent Republican is in this race.
Then again, this complaint isn’t really about that. Instead, it’s a desperate bid to turn a narrow defeat into victory in a race that could determine which party controls the Senate.
And a slim victory for Peltola currently seems to be the most likely outcome. The Democrat enjoys a small polling edge with 10 days to go before Election Day and votes already being cast.
However, because Alaska uses ranked-choice voting and the top four vote-getters from a “jungle primary” earlier this year advanced to the general election, it is also quite possible that one Peltola will not receive as many votes as two Sullivans.
That scenario, according to Trump and his DOJ, would taint the result and the seat should just be given to their Sullivan.
“Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan will confuse or mislead voters looking to cast a vote for Senator Sullivan, and thus distort the will of Alaskan voters, there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity,” the complaint states.
Legal experts aren’t impressed by this scheme, which will likely go nowhere (apart from showing to which lengths DOJ will go in order to do Trump’s bidding.
To her credit, neither is Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
“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,” she stated. “The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.”
