(AFP) – The US Justice Department is seeking to invalidate Alaska’s Senate election results if the Republican incumbent loses next month, in a rare legal move that raises questions about the Trump administration’s willingness to accept defeat in the midterms.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the Justice Department alleged that Republican Dan J. Sullivan Jr., who is running for the Senate, could confuse voters intending to support the incumbent senator, who is also Republican and is also named Dan Sullivan. Republican officials have claimed that Sullivan Jr. is a Democratic ruse to try and tilt the race in which Democrats hope to flip the seat — and help their outside bid to win control of the Senate. Democrats and Sullivan Jr. himself have denied this.
The Justice Department asked a judge to halt certification if the incumbent’s losing margin is smaller than the votes won by his namesake. “Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan will confuse or mislead voters looking to cast a vote for Senator Sullivan… there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity,” the agency said in its lawsuit.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day on Thursday, US Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested the Justice Department was not preparing to interfere in the election, but at the same time would not completely rule out such a scenario. “It is not DOJ’s intention to — and it’s never our intention to — improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process,” Blanche said. “But you know, to say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that. Of course, I’m not going to say that.”
Democrats have accused the Trump administration of seeking to influence the November vote by expanding federal control over state-run elections and by repeatedly questioning the integrity of election results. President Donald Trump tried to overthrow the 2020 presidential election in which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
The Constitution gives states primary responsibility for running elections, while Congress has the power to regulate federal elections. Trump won Alaska by 13 percentage points in his 2024 comeback election. But amid growing discontent with Republicans and Trump nationwide, Mary Peltola, a former tribal judge and Alaska Native, has a strong chance of winning the Senate seat. Alaska is a vast state with a population of just 740,000.
© 2024 AFP
