Justice Department Sues to Block Alaska Senate Certification Amid Name-Clash Investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to prevent Alaska from certifying Mary Peltola as the winner of the state’s U.S. Senate race. The suit was filed two days before the general election and targets the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot.

A New York Times investigation reported that individuals associated with Peltola’s campaign coordinated efforts to recruit the namesake. The incumbent, Dan S. Sullivan, is a Republican. The challenger, Dan J. Sullivan, is a retired schoolteacher who has previously registered as a Democrat. The Times report suggested the recruitment was a coordinated attempt to split the vote or confuse voters.

Peltola’s campaign initially stated it had no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Since the publication of the report, the campaign has labeled the allegations a diversion but has not fully addressed the specific claims made by the newspaper.

Alaska officials moved quickly after the report. Governor Mike Dunleavy directed the state Department of Public Safety to investigate whether criminal or civil offenses occurred. Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that such a scheme should be illegal. President Donald Trump suggested that prosecutions should follow, though he did not specify the legal grounds or the individuals targeted.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit aims to stop certification if Dan J. Sullivan remains on the ballot. Legal experts have questioned the viability of the suit. Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the Associated Press that the relevant statute does not allow the department to enjoin certification. The Wall Street Journal described the legal strategy as a hail mary.

Rick Hasen, a law professor at UCLA, called the news report a bombshell. He noted that perjury prosecutions could be possible if individuals lied about their involvement. However, he argued the government has no way to criminalize the namesake’s campaign itself. He warned that expanding the law could make it a crime whenever a major party supports a minor party candidate.

The race is closely watched because Republicans currently hold a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate. Democrats need four additional seats to take control. Alaska has one of the smallest electorates in the country. In the 2014 election, Sullivan won by approximately two percentage points, a margin of just over 6,000 votes.

In the August primary, the namesake, whom some called Decoy Dan, received 4,107 votes. That amount represented about 2 percent of the total. Reports indicate he spent nothing on staff or media. The state’s Republican lieutenant governor had previously disqualified the candidate under a rule against confusing ballot names. A state judge reversed that decision, and the Alaska Supreme Court upheld the reversal, finding no legal basis to remove a qualified candidate.

Alaska uses ranked-choice voting. On the ballot, the incumbent is listed as Dan S. Sullivan with the label Registered Republican Incumbent. The namesake appears as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. with no party label. Senator Lisa Murkowski criticized the Justice Department suit. She said Alaskans do not need help voting for their preferred candidates. She also called on Peltola to explain what she knew about the recruitment process.

Democrats have defended the move as standard political strategy. They pointed to Republican-led efforts in other states to place diversionary candidates on ballots. They also cited a 2024 scheme in which Republicans allegedly placed an incarcerated candidate on a ballot to draw votes from a preferred House candidate. That candidate is running again this year.