The Justice Department’s lawsuit has raised concerns that the administration is trying to interfere in some of the current mid-cycle races.
Published October 23, 2026
With just over a week left until the crucial US midterm elections, the US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block the certification of the results of the highly contested Senate race in Alaska.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the Justice Department alleges that an independent candidate with the same name as the state’s incumbent Republican state senator, Dan Sullivan, who is currently running for re-election, is intentionally running to mislead voters.
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“Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan would confuse or mislead voters seeking to vote for Senator Sullivan and, in turn, distort the will of Alaska’s voters, there is a substantial likelihood that the certification of the election reflects an election process that lacks integrity,” the Trump administration’s filing said.
The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to delay certification to allow time to investigate “whether the votes cast for Mr. Daniel J. Sullivan were intended to be cast for Senator Sullivan.”
President Trump claimed responsibility for the lawsuit after being asked about it by reporters during a visit to Florida on Friday.
“I said, ‘Do it,'” he told reporters in Fort Myers, Florida.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
The lawsuit has raised concerns among Democrats and voting rights groups that the Trump administration is seeking to interfere in some upcoming midterm elections, as Republicans across the country struggle to push back against a growing wave of Democratic support.
The Justice Department has taken several recent steps to heighten these concerns, including indicting a high-ranking Virginia lawmaker, State Sen. L. Louise Lucas, on corruption charges and launching an investigation into Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar over immigration fraud allegations. Both sides claim the action is politically motivated.
Critics of President Trump have long expressed concern that the Justice Department could try to block the certification of an election lost by the U.S. president’s party.
On Wednesday, after the indictment against Mr. Lucas was announced, U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche told reporters that his agency would not file charges unless extraordinary circumstances warranted.
“It is not the intent of the Department of Justice, and we never intend to, to unfairly interfere with elections or the national certification process,” Blanche said.
Lauren Miller Karalunas, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said in a statement that each U.S. state is responsible for certifying elections and that the federal government has “no role” in that.
“Rest assured, the state certification process was created to meet this moment,” Karalunas said. “Centuries ago, state legislatures recognized that bad actors could use this process to manipulate election results. They built in safeguards specifically designed to prevent that from happening.”
In June, the Alaska Supreme Court rejected previous Republican efforts to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot. Although he will attend without specifying his party name, Sen. Sullivan is listed as a Republican candidate.
But Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system allows voters to choose both Sullivans if they can’t decide.
Which party controls the U.S. Senate after November 3 may ultimately come down to the Alaska Senate race. There, Sen. Sullivan is in a tough re-election battle with former U.S. Democratic Representative Mary Peltola.
Poll results consistently show the race to be within the margin of error. A Public Policy Poll poll conducted earlier this month suggested Mr. Peltola was leading by just one point.
Sullivan’s and Peltola’s teams did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
