The Lawsuit Over Two Dan Sullivans May Not Be Over Yet - Newsweek
Alaska’s Senate race is being fought on two tracks. One is the slow count of ballots that could take until November 18. The other is in federal court.
In the latest count, Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by 637 votes. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., the retired Petersburg teacher who shares the senator’s name, drew 3,600. That is the exact situation the Justice Department went to court to address: Sullivan trailing by fewer votes than his namesake received.
A judge dismissed that lawsuit two days before Election Day. The department appealed the same day. The numbers are unofficial and will move, but they keep the legal fight relevant.
President Donald Trump said he ordered the suit. It sought to hold up certification so investigators could check whether voters had confused the two names.
Alaska’s own election officials led the opposition. That is notable: The same Division of Elections had tried to keep the namesake off the ballot over the summer. Lawyers for the state argued that the ballot already distinguished the two Sullivans, that ballots couldn’t be set aside without violating constitutional protections for ballot secrecy, and that they wouldn’t reveal why anyone voted as they did anyway.
Peltola’s campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and two Alaska voters represented by the ACLU intervened on the state’s side. Newsweek reached out to Peltola’s campaign for comment on the ruling and the appeal, but had not heard back before publication.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason found the government lacked standing because the court couldn’t grant its request without exposing how people voted.
Setting ballots aside for law enforcement review, she wrote, is not a remedy the court “can or should order.”
The department said Gleason ruled on procedural grounds and never disputed its claim that the namesake was a decoy. Newsweek reached out to the Justice Department by email to ask whether it plans to seek an expedited appeal or any order affecting Alaska’s certification, but had not heard back before publication.
On the current schedule, the last briefs aren’t due until several weeks after Alaska plans to certify.
Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas, and Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy has ordered a state investigation.
The New York Times reported that Peltola’s former campaign manager alleged a Democratic operative helped recruit the namesake. The ex-staffer later retracted her statements. The Peltola campaign and DSCC deny any role.
The count decides how much the lawsuit matters. If Sullivan pulls ahead in the ranked-choice tabulation, or if Peltola’s final margin exceeds the namesake’s vote total, the department’s scenario disappears. If she wins narrowly, the appeal and the criminal probe become the next battleground.
Sullivan said on CNN before the ruling that he would accept the results if he lost. Newsweek reached out to Sullivan’s campaign to ask whether he supports the appeal and whether that commitment still stands, but had not heard back before publication.
All figures are unofficial results as of the state’s 5:11 p.m. ET Wednesday update and will change.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Steven Frank and Edward T. Cummins
