The campaign of Mary Peltola, the Democrat running for Alaska's U.S. Senate seat, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee asked a federal judge in Anchorage on Sunday, October 25, to let them join a Justice Department lawsuit and have it dismissed before Election Day. The suit could stop the state from certifying the race if Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses. They asked U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason to order the department to respond by 5 p.m. Alaska time on Tuesday and to rule this week; the League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause, which have also asked to join the case, backed the request on Monday. The department says it is acting against a candidacy that Alaska's elections director ruled in June was not in good faith; the state courts overturned that ruling and kept him on the ballot. Attorney General Todd Blanche says the suit does not seek to stop certification, but the complaint asks the court to bar certification, in the circumstances it defines, until an investigation is done. As of midday Monday the court docket showed no ruling, no hearing date and no response from the state.
What the complaint asks
The suit, filed October 22 and signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr., names the state, Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher and the boards that count and certify ballots. It asks the court to bar certification of any result "that may be impacted by voter confusion," which it defines as a race in which Sullivan loses but would have won "had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska's rank-choice process played out accordingly." Certification would wait "pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan."
Its single legal claim rests on the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which lists among its purposes "to protect the integrity of the electoral process" and lets the attorney general sue to carry out the act. The complaint pairs that with Supreme Court rulings recognizing a state's interest in keeping "frivolous or fraudulent candidacies" off the ballot. It acknowledges that those cases concerned ballot access, and argues the same interest carries through to certification. It alleges that the second Sullivan's "sole purpose" is to help Peltola by drawing votes from the senator.
The second Dan Sullivan
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a 69-year-old retired teacher from Petersburg, filed for the seat in May. After complaints from the Alaska Republican Party and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Beecher, a Republican, ruled on June 15 that his declaration "was not filed in order to declare an actual good-faith candidacy," citing his request to appear as "Dan Sullivan," his switch to Republican registration two days before filing, a website resembling the senator's, and a consultant she described as a longtime supporter of Democrats. He denied it, saying he is running because he thinks the senator has served Alaskans poorly. On June 26, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews overturned her decision, finding that the "good-faith" test she applied appears nowhere in the Constitution, Alaska election law or the division's rules, and that confusion could be handled through ballot design. The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed on June 29 and has not yet issued its full opinion. The ballot lists "Sullivan, Dan S." as "(Registered Republican) Incumbent" and "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." with no party label. In the August primary the senator won 68,726 votes to the challenger's 4,107, and Peltola led with 49.5 percent.
What each side says
President Trump said of the suit, "I'm the one that said do it," and has called the second Sullivan "the fake." Blanche wrote on social media over the weekend that the department "does not seek to stop any ballot from being cast or to stop the certification of Alaska's election," only to ensure ballots "are preserved" so Alaska officials can judge whether voters were misled, and that it "did not coordinate with any campaign or candidate." The complaint itself asks for no ballot-preservation order; its request is that certification be barred, in the circumstances it defines, pending an investigation. On CNN on October 25, Blanche said, "We're not laying any groundwork" for the president to overturn a result, and that the state court ruling "explicitly didn't consider federal law." Sen. Sullivan's campaign said it had "no prior knowledge of this lawsuit and no role in it."
Peltola's lawyers argue that the voter-registration law "has literally nothing to say about which candidates are listed on the ballot," that a statute's statement of purpose creates no enforceable duty, and that assuming every vote for Daniel J. Sullivan was meant for the senator is "insulting to voters." They say the department waited months after the June rulings and the August ballot design to sue, and that an investigation into how people meant to vote cannot be squared with the secret ballot. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said the department "should never have filed this lawsuit." Michael Morley, an election-law professor at Florida State University, said the suit "arises from real, valid, recognized concerns about a bad-faith sham candidate, potential confusion, and effective disenfranchisement," but that "this particular lawsuit is frivolous and will be quickly dismissed." The state Department of Law said it is reviewing the complaint and is "focused on running the ongoing election," and had no comment on the litigation. Peltola's filing questions whether the state, whose elections director tried to remove the second Sullivan, will defend vigorously.
What comes next
Election Day is November 3, and early voting is under way. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, Alaska will run its ranked-choice tabulation on November 18.
This article reflects reporting through the afternoon of Monday, October 26, 2026. Sources: the court docket, including the complaint, the elections director's June 15 letter and the intervenors' proposed motion to dismiss; CNBC, October 25 and 26; NPR, October 25; CNN, October 23; ABC News; Votebeat, October 23; the Anchorage Daily News, October 23 and June 29; Alaska's News Source, June 27.
