DOJ Sues to Block Alaska Senate Certification Over Similar-Named Candidate; Challengers Seek Dismissal

The Justice Department has sued to block Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate election results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, arguing that a second candidate on the ballot, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., would mislead voters. President Trump confirmed on Friday that he ordered the lawsuit. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher, is running unaffiliated, and the Alaska Supreme Court ruled before the primary, upholding lower courts in June, that he could appear on the ballot. Sullivan faces Democratic challenger Mary Peltola in a competitive race, and early voting is underway. The lawsuit asks that the state elections board and the ballot counting review board not certify a result. Attorneys for Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have filed a motion to dismiss. The ACLU, representing two Alaska voters, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause, has moved to intervene and to dismiss, and has asked the court to consider sanctions. Sophia Lin Lakin of the ACLU said the claim has no merit. Vice President Vance said on Tuesday that the independent candidate was committing "electoral fraud."

Left-leaning coverage, in The New Republic, centers on Attorney General Todd Blanche's Sunday appearance on CBS's Face the Nation. It describes him as losing his composure when host Margaret Brennan showed that Sullivan is labeled "(Registered Republican) Incumbent" on the ballot, and it notes that he refused to say whom Trump told to file the suit. Its headline and word choices are openly mocking of Blanche, and it stresses that the administration intervened only days before the election. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had. The alternative outlets differ in focus. The Hill leads with Vance's response to a question about whether Alaskans should find the suit insulting, and Democracy Now! frames the case as part of an effort to undermine confidence in midterm results, featuring the ACLU's legal filings and Lakin. Both left and alternative coverage agree on the suit's basis and the court history.