President Donald Trump’s Justice Department wants a federal judge to stop Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses a race he would have won had the votes for a second “Dan Sullivan” gone to him.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Anchorage, targets Daniel J. Sullivan, a Petersburg man running as a Republican in a closely watched race between the incumbent and Democrat Mary Peltola.
“The sole purpose of his candidacy is to benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing the number of votes for Senator Sullivan,” the complaint alleges.
The DOJ asks the court to block certification of any result in which the senator loses but would have won had every vote for Daniel J. Sullivan gone to him instead and the state’s ranked-choice tally played out accordingly. Certification would stay on hold “pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan,” the filing says.
The suit leans on the National Voter Registration Act, the 1993 “motor voter” law, citing its stated purpose of protecting “the integrity of the electoral process.”
Alaska elections director Carol Beecher tried to boot Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot in June, finding he filed “to confuse or mislead” voters. She noted that, according to state records, he had never been affiliated with the Republican Party in Alaska until two days before he filed, and that he first asked to be listed as “Dan S. Sullivan,” using the senator’s middle initial.
A state judge overturned her decision, and the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed it, keeping him on the ballot.
According to the complaint, Daniel J. Sullivan told The New York Times he voted for Democrats in the last three presidential elections.
Daniel J. Sullivan has said his campaign was inspired by dissatisfaction with the incumbent and that he did not work with Peltola campaign officials on his initial run, the Alaska Beacon reported.
Trump weighed in on the race last month.
“Let’s say he takes two or three points away. That’s the difference between winning and losing. It should be illegal,” Trump said Sept. 2, according to the Beacon.
Daniel J. Sullivan responded that he would not let “threats of retribution force me out of this race.”
In the August primary, Peltola took 49.5%, Sen. Sullivan 41.4% and Daniel J. Sullivan 2.5%, the complaint states. It says polls show the general election within one or two points.
The suit was filed 12 days before the Nov. 3 election.
