DOJ sues to block Alaska Senate certification if Dan Sullivan loses

politicsOct 23, 202624395

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to bar Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate result if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, arguing the outcome could be tainted by voter confusion. The complaint says a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, ran with the same ballot name and party affiliation and deliberately sought to confuse voters, potentially diverting votes and benefiting Democratic challenger former Rep. Mary Peltola. The filing notes that some supporters likely will inadvertently vote for Daniel J. Sullivan and others likely will be confused about how to rank the three Republican candidates, including Gerald Heikes, under Alaska's ranked-choice system. Alaska courts allowed Daniel J. Sullivan to remain on the general election ballot, but the Justice Department contends certifying a result affected by that confusion would violate the National Voter Registration Act. The DOJ asks the court to block certification in any race where the incumbent would have won if votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were instead counted for Sen. Dan Sullivan, pending an investigation into voter intent.

Indivisible ❌👑

@indivisible.org

Because he knows the GOP is about to lose, Trump is trying to control who wins our elections — but Alaskans will have the final say here. This is a shamelessly partisan attempt to undermine voters by a bunch of losers with no legal role in this process. Voters vote and states certify. That’s it.

1241h ago

Indivisible ❌👑30

It must be so embarrassing to be Dan Sullivan today (or any day, really), but that's not our problem. Our job is to keep doing the work we've been doing for months: Talking to voters and turning out the early vote.

It’sScience19841

Dan Sullivan sued to be on the ballot. www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...

FactPost

@factpostnews.bsky.social

The Trump administration has moved to preemptively block certification of the Alaska Senate race if Trump-endorsed Dan Sullivan does not win.

513h ago

Dark Days Are Here3

Makes sense the authoritarian would illegally abuse power to desperately grasp to his power. Very on brand. 🤷‍♂️

You Can't Govern Unless You Win2

So she needs to win, but also needs to receive more votes than the two Dans combined?

rosi1959.bsky.social2

This is election interference. No president has the right to interfere in elections. The people decide.

Marcia2

How has the fat slob rapist done this?

CA-NC-GA Lady1

They are sooooo scared. Good

kristinfo.bsky.social1

Yeah then the winner will just have to make sure she can be certified because that’s just ridiculous.

Quoting this

effluvium2

lol if they’re signaling this now, then they already have a plan to do this nationwide won’t be long now 😉

Annie, MLIS, Schrödinger's Librarian 🍄📚🥌2

If you want to know what cheating in an election looks like...

Republicans Against Trumpism

@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social

Trump’s administration sues to block a possible Democratic win in the Alaska US Senate race apnews.com/article/alas...

521h ago

Free3

So if the Democrat still wins even if they combine votes of both Dan Sullivan's, how could they reject that?

Cindy Arnevik2

Does Dan Sullivan approve of this loser move? Lisa Murkowski won a write in campaign where spelling is key. He couldn’t have spent the last the months clarifying which Sullivan to vote for? He wasn’t prepared

Greg A1

Trump sues to cheat because he thinks GOP voters are too stupid to pick the right candidate.

Patrick Cooper1

FUCK TRUMPOWSKY'S PEDO-RUSSIAN ADMINISTRATION FOREVER

Lea Francis1

What a vulgar man Trump is.

Quoting this

Lance Parkin2

Very clearly they know they're going to lose the Senate, but this will foul up that for a month or two.

DrH

@drhaup.bsky.social

Repug election interference in Alaska Senate race. They're starting their asanine tricks early. www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

252h ago

End Citizens United

@endcitizensunited.bsky.social

NEW: We filed a complaint against Dan Sullivan for violating the STOCK Act. Millions of dollars invested in his family’s company. Stock trades with impossibly good timing. Failure to disclose those trades on time. The Senate Ethics Committee must hold him accountable. #AKSEN

111h ago

Bloomberg News

@bloomberg.com

The DOJ's suing to stop Alaska officials from certifying the results of next month’s Senate contest if the GOP candidate loses, claiming there’s a risk of “voter confusion” because two individuals with similar names are on the ballot

122h ago

Travis 🇨🇦1

What's next? If they look alike they can stop certification and say the people really wanted the MAGA guy to win..?

markspotsthex1

I’m going to laugh when the case gets dismissed for lack of standing. State’s run elections. The Federal government can’t interdict. A citizen would need to bring this case.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett

@doggett.house.gov

Fearful that he is losing in Alaska, Trump is desperately clinging to power by weaponizing the Justice Department and declaring fraud nearly two weeks before an election has even occurred. The only threat to election integrity is Donald Trump. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

122h ago

Alaska Beacon

@alaskabeacon.com

Trump administration sues to block Alaska’s US Senate election result if Peltola wins, writes @alaska.bsky.social for @alaskabeacon.com alaskabeacon.com/2026/10/23/t...

111h ago

Grudgie the Wail

@grudgie.bsky.social

A note on this is that the attempts in court to address this name thing failed when there was actually 2 Dan Sullivans.

163h ago

Lee West

@whodat35.bsky.social

FFS 🤦‍♀️ DOJ seeks to block Alaska Senate result if Republican incumbent narrowly loses In a lawsuit, the Justice Department cited confusion over two similarly named candidates, including Republican Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan.

101h ago

David Kurtz

@davidkurtz.bsky.social

How it would be determined that ballots were mistakenly cast for the wrong Dan Sullivan is not clear. The lawsuit is signed by Stanley Woodward, Jr., the No. 3 official at DOJ. www.courtlistener.com/docket/75009...

103h ago

Justice Connection

@justiceconnection.bsky.social

Less than 24 hours after AG Blanche said “absolutely, positively not” when asked whether DOJ might try to block states from certifying the election, we learn DOJ is suing to block Alaska from certifying its Senate race if Republican Dan Sullivan narrowly loses. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

41h ago

JeffTrnka

@jefftrnka.bsky.social

The Trump administration is looking to block the results of Alaska's Senate race if Democrat Mary Peltola beats GOP incumbent Dan Sullivan. youtu.be/Ez0FoX5qL5c?...

41h ago

USA TODAY

@usatoday.com

President Donald Trump’s administration filed a lawsuit to block Alaska’s certification of the U.S. Senate race if Republicans lose, based on confusion about the incumbent’s name. Read more at: bit.ly/47E82XB

53h ago

Kevin Hell-iott

@kjephd.bsky.social

This Alaska lawsuit sounds like classic Trump 2.0: Unprecedented attack on American democracy, done incompetently by Temu DOJ lawyers electionlawblog.org/2026/citing-...

71h ago

3 sources

cbsnews.comTrump admin. sues to block Alaska Senate certification if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses thehill.comJustice Department sues to block Alaska results if Sullivan loses yahoo.comTrump admin seeks to block Alaska Senate result if Dan Sullivan loses

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DOJ sues to block Alaska Senate certification if Dan Sullivan loses

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