Sen. Sullivan’s pledge stands in contrast to the Trump administration’s efforts to challenge Alaska’s election certification if he loses.
Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan has vowed to accept the election results, days after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit seeking to decertify the results of the upcoming Senate election if the Republican incumbent loses.
Sullivan, an ally of US President Donald Trump, told CNN on Sunday: “I am going to accept the results of the election.”
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Sullivan’s promise came just two days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress.
He said he was confident of victory and accused his Democratic opponent, Mary Peltola, who is seeking to oust him, of fraud.
“My opponent and (Senate Minority Leader Chuck) Schumer and his allies have shown complete contempt for the people of Alaska, and they have shown complete contempt for the realization that they had to cheat because they couldn’t live up to their record. And now it’s been exposed,” he said.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that members of Mr. Peltola’s campaign helped promote a former teacher named Dan J. Sullivan Jr. to run for the Senate as a spoiler candidate in an effort to draw votes away from Sen. Sullivan.
The report appears to have prompted a new legal push by the Trump administration to bar Alaska from certifying its election results if Sen. Sullivan loses.
On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the lawsuit, saying it was “unworkable” because many voters had already cast their votes and the ballots were so mixed up that each voter’s identity could not be determined.
“More fundamentally, the United States has not presented a workable plan for its proposal to segregate the ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ballot ‘examination’ in a manner that protects voter secrecy,” she wrote.
The Justice Department announced Sunday that it plans to appeal Gleason’s sentence.
The second Mr. Sullivan is listed on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., and the senator is listed as Dan S. Sullivan and is marked as the Republican incumbent.
Mr. Peltola insisted he had nothing to do with the hiring of the other Mr. Sullivan, calling the attention to Mr. Sullivan a “distraction” from the main problem facing Alaskans: high prices caused by the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.彼女の陣営も関与を否定している。
Before Friday’s rally, Mr. Peltola was asked whether anyone in his campaign might have been involved in recruiting the other Mr. Sullivan. “I don’t know,” she told KTUU. 「正直、分かりません。」
Senator Sullivan doubted Mr. Peltola’s claims.
“There’s no way this could have gone on for a year without the government notifying her,” Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “She was caught lying and continues to lie to the people of Alaska, the media and all of us.”
Alaska’s Senate race is one of seven key issues likely to determine whether Republicans retain their majority in the U.S. Senate.
Both candidates spent their final days campaigning across Alaska’s vast landscape.
On Saturday night, Sen. Sullivan handed out candy at a “trunk-or-treat” event at a recreation center north of Anchorage, where he quipped that his costume was “the real Dan Sullivan.”
