Trump admin. sues to block Alaska Senate certification if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses

Updated on: October 23, 2026 / 11:44 AM EDT / CBS News

The Trump administration is suing to block certification of the Alaska Senate race if incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan does not win reelection — but would have won if votes for the other GOP Alaska Senate candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, were counted for the incumbent.

The government alleges that candidate Daniel J. Sullivan deliberately sought to confuse voters by running with the same ballot name and party affiliation as incumbent senator, potentially diverting votes — and benefiting Democratic challenger former Rep. Mary Peltola.

Sen. Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan and Peltola and another Republican, Gerald Heikes, are on the general election ballot, which will be decided by ranked-choice voting.

In their court filing Friday, the Justice Department argued that allowing Daniel J. Sullivan to be on the ballot "threatens to mislead Alaskan citizens who want to vote for Senator Sullivan" and said that some of his supporters "likely will inadvertently vote for Daniel J. Sullivan." The department said that the senator's other supporters "likely will be confused as to how to rank the three Republican candidates as to defeat Peltola" and "might not rank Senator Sullivan at all."

Although…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/