Judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit to block Alaska Senate certification
A federal judge has dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block the certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate race over voter confusion claims.
Headline: Judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit to block Alaska Senate certification
Dispatch Summary: A federal judge has dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block the certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate race over voter confusion claims.
Verification: Corroborated across independent reporting outlets with primary sources and real-time wire transmissions.
The high-stakes collision between presidential power and state-run elections in Alaska ended in a federal courtroom on Sunday, just two days before Election Day. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block the certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate race if incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan loses to Democratic former Representative Mary Peltola.
The Trump administration's lawsuit, ordered by the president to be filed last month, hinged on an extraordinary premise: that the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot created unconstitutional voter confusion. Republicans alleged that the second candidate, a retired teacher named Dan J. Sullivan, was recruited by Democratic operatives as a spoiler to siphon votes from the incumbent. Gleason rejected the federal push, ruling that the government's requested relief was completely unworkable.
More fundamentally, the United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified investigation of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy.
Video: Alaska's Peltola asks judge to toss DOJ's Senate election lawsuit — LiveNOW from FOX (YouTube)U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason via The Associated Press
Gleason wrote that the relief sought was infeasible because many ballots had already been cast and mixed together to the point where individual voters could not be matched to their submissions. She also found that the federal government lacked the legal ability to bring the case, noting that the U.S. Constitution grants states the authority to run their own elections. Attorneys for the Alaska Department of Law had urged the judge to toss the case, calling it a meritless lawsuit. While the Justice Department is expected to appeal, the ruling removes an immediate federal roadblock to the state's counting process.
How the Two Sullivans Upended a Critical Senate Race
The bizarre spectacle of two candidates sharing a name transformed what was already one of the country's most closely watched midterm contests into a national constitutional battleground. The race features incumbent Dan S. Sullivan trying to secure a third term against Peltola, with control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance. But the ballot also included Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle who had never previously campaigned for public office and briefly switched his registration to Republican before switching back to unaffiliated.
Alaska's unique election rules made the unusual ballot line possible. Under the state's system, the top four primary finishers advance to the general election regardless of party, and voters rank their preferences. Dan J. Sullivan secured his spot by winning 4,107 primary votes. In June, the Alaska Supreme Court dismissed Republican efforts to remove him from the ballot, ruling that neither state law nor the U.S. Constitution provided a legal basis to toss him out.
The situation escalated dramatically on October 28, when The New York Times published an investigation detailing what it called a secret Democratic effort to stack the ballot. Citing interviews, documents, and dozen of text messages, the report alleged that operatives aligned with Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit the second Sullivan to dilute the incumbent's support. Elisa Rios, a former Peltola campaign manager and one of the paper's main sources, attempted to retract her statements ahead of publication. Peltola has repeatedly denied any knowledge of or involvement in the recruitment scheme, telling KTUU at a campaign event, I honestly have no idea. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has also denied involvement, and Dan J. Sullivan has long maintained he entered the race independently.
The fallout from the investigation drew swift intervention from Washington. President Trump called for Peltola to be removed from the ballot and prosecuted, telling a rally in Daytona Beach, Fla., that Attorney General Todd Blanche would make his own decision. The Justice Department issued a wave of new grand jury subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into whether federal conspiracy laws were violated. Michael Heyman, the U.S. attorney for Alaska, confirmed that the criminal probe had been underway for months and led to a significant surge of law enforcement assets, though he declined to specify what crimes are being examined. FBI agents also visited a Petersburg business to ask a donor whether he had been misled, though the donor stated he knew who the incumbent was. Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced an inquiry into whether any crimes were committed, and Alaska Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy ordered a separate state investigation to determine if state election laws were broken.
What the Legal Rejection Means for Voters and the Senate Majority
For voters and political observers, the dismissal of the federal lawsuit clarifies the immediate rules of the road for Tuesday's election, even as investigations continue. Legal experts had widely panned the Justice Department's intervention before Gleason's ruling, pointing out that the National Voter Registration Act provides no authority for federal challenges to state election procedures. David Becker, a former Justice Department attorney, noted that the administration had zero authority to dictate how Alaska certifies its results. Cato Institute senior fellow Walter Olson called the lawsuit abusive in its intentions and bordering on frivolous.
State officials also pointed out that Alaska's ranked-choice voting system offered its own built-in remedy for any voter confusion. Attorneys for the Alaska Department of Law noted that voters could simply rank both Sullivans as first and second choices. That way, if a voter's first-ranked Sullivan was eliminated, the vote would transfer directly to the other Sullivan rather than to Peltola, unless the voter explicitly chose otherwise.
Despite the bitter partisan warfare, incumbent Senator Sullivan struck a conciliatory note regarding the final outcome on Sunday. Asked on CNN's State of the Union whether he would accept the results, he answered plainly. I'm going to accept the election results, he said, while maintaining his skepticism of Peltola's denials. With polls showing a tight race well within the margin of error and the Cook Political Report listing the contest as a toss-up, control of the U.S. Senate may ultimately depend on how Alaska's ranked ballots are tallied after polls close on Tuesday, November 3.
Federal district judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the Department of Justice lawsuit on Sunday, November 1, 2026.
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