Former Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat from Alaska and a candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks with Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska (not pictured), during the 2026 Alaska Fisheries Debate, Saturday, September 12, 2026, in Kodiak, Alaska, USA.
Nathaniel Wilder Bloomberg | Getty Images
The campaign of Democratic Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola has asked a federal judge to move quickly on a Trump administration lawsuit that could block the election’s certification. Peltola’s campaign is asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit by Election Day.
Lawyers for Mr. Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee said in a court filing late Sunday that they are “gravely concerned” that President Donald Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche will use the lawsuit to “lay the foundation for an illegal effort to challenge a potential Mr. Peltola’s victory” if the complaint remains pending as of Election Day, Nov. 3.
Advocacy groups Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, which had previously sought intervention in the Justice Department’s case, joined Peltola’s motion on Monday, asking Alaska District Court Judge Sharon Gleason to swiftly explain and dismiss the case.
The Justice Department filed the lawsuit Thursday. Trump said later that day that he gave the order.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit asks a judge to bar Alaska from certifying its Senate election results if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan lost by a narrow margin that is believed to have been caused by voters incorrectly voting for another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan.
In that case, the Justice Department would want to conduct an investigation to determine whether the man’s name confused enough voters to shift their votes to another candidate, perhaps a former Rep. Peltola. The Justice Department claims that the “sole purpose” of Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy is “to benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing Sen. Sullivan’s vote count.”
The winner of this race could determine which party will control the majority in the Senate starting in January.
In a court filing, Peltola’s campaign and DSCC asked the judge to order the Justice Department to respond to the motion to intervene and the motion to dismiss the case by 5 p.m. Alaska time Tuesday, and to respond to that response by Wednesday.
“And we will dismiss the lawsuit this week,” the motion reads.
“The Department of Justice filed this lawsuit in the midst of an ongoing general election, less than two weeks before Election Day, and raised issues that were governed solely by state law, which were ultimately resolved by the Alaska Supreme Court several months ago,” the filing states.
“The Department of Justice is seeking an unprecedented order to prevent the certification of the U.S. Senate election if the President’s favored candidate loses by a narrow margin,” the filing reads.
“As reflected in the proposed motion to dismiss, the Department of Justice’s claims have no legal basis whatsoever,” the filing states.
“The court should not allow this lawsuit to hang like a sword of Damocles over the ongoing election, giving false legitimacy to the president and attorney general’s continued efforts to spread false narratives about Alaska’s election as voting continues and results begin to be counted next week.”
The Justice Department declined to comment on the new motion, but pointed to the × posted by Branch on Sunday.
“The Department of Justice is not seeking to halt voting or halt the certification of Alaska’s elections,” Blanche said. “This lawsuit aims to ensure that after Alaskans vote, it is stored in such a way that only Alaska government officials have the information they need to determine whether Alaska voters were confused or misled.”
“The lawsuit was written by attorneys at the Department of Justice, and the Justice Department did not work with any campaign or candidate and relied solely on federal law,” Blanche said.
The department did not say how its pre-certification survey would determine whether voters were confused about which Sullivan to vote for. The election ballot lists Sen. Sullivan (whose name is listed as Dan S. Sullivan) as the incumbent and a Republican. There is nothing written next to the other candidate’s name, which is spelled Daniel J. Sullivan.
Peltola told MS NOW’s Nicole Wallace on Friday night that the Justice Department’s lawsuit is “exactly the type of corruption that Alaskans are tired of.”
“This is clearly a very desperate attempt to hang on to power, using allies in Washington, D.C., to further rig the system,” Peltola said.
Peltola’s campaign announced Sunday that Peltola and her family “suffered minor injuries” that required medical treatment when the car she was in was struck by another driver Saturday night on her way to the Alaska Federation of Natives’ annual banquet.
As a result, Peltra posted events in Fairbanks and Bethel on Sunday and Monday. The campaign said those events would be rescheduled.
