Todd Blanche Responds to Alaska Scenarios as Trump DOJ Sends Target Letters - Newsweek

The Department of Justice (DOJ) could scrutinize individual ballots in Alaska if the midterm results suggest that voter confusion may have affected Republican Senator Dan Sullivan’s reelection bid, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday.

Asked on Fox News what would trigger further DOJ action, Blanche pointed to Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system and described a scenario in which Sullivan loses but ballots raise questions about whether voters intended to support him rather than Dan J. Sullivan, an undeclared candidate and retired teacher who shares the incumbent's name.

Asked what circumstances could trigger further DOJ action, Blanche told Fox News' Martha MacCallum: “There’s a scenario where the incumbent, Senator Sullivan, could lose, but really he didn’t lose because of ranked-choice voting. If it’s clear that voters were confused, and again, that’s why you need to preserve these ballots.”

He added that authorities could potentially “look at the individual ballots” to determine whether there was evidence of voter confusion.

Republicans have sought to have Dan J. Sullivan removed from the ballot, alleging that his candidacy is meant to confuse voters and boost Peltola’s chances. The New York Times reported that Democratic operatives were involved in recruiting Sullivan and other potential spoilers into the race.

Senator Sullivan told Fox News reporter Matt Finn that he believes this has been a real issue affecting some voters.

“I've heard from people who think they've voted for the wrong guy and have apologized to me," he said. "Just like I said, the scheme is working."

Democrat Mary Peltola was leading Senator Sullivan in the latest poll of the race, but by a narrower margin than earlier this month, suggesting that the ballot controversy involving a namesake challenger to the incumbent has dented but not derailed her campaign.

Blanche's comments came as the DOJ’s scrutiny of the Alaska race intensifies.

The department sent letters to about 20 Democrats, including election lawyer Marc Elias, informing them that they may be targets of a criminal investigation into how Dan J. Sullivan ended up on the ballot, according to reports.

The New York Times first reported last Tuesday that the DOJ sent target letters to Democrats as part of its investigation into the race.

NBC News reported that the correspondence included target letters and requests that third parties preserve records. A target letter does not mean the recipient has been charged or necessarily will be charged. The investigation reportedly concerns potential donor fraud and conspiracy.

The DOJ will sometimes send target letters to people it sees as at legitimate risk of indictment. It defines a "target" as a person who it has gathered substantial evidence linking them to a possible crime.

The DOJ also sent out around 100 subpoenas as part of the investigation, according to the Times.

Elias responded to the target letter in a statement, writing: “This administration has repeatedly weaponized the DOJ against the President’s political enemies despite zero evidence of wrongdoing, and we are the latest targets.”

Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman responded to the news in a post on X: “The DOJ sent TARGET LETTERS to Marc Elias and others in a huge escalation of the Alaska squabbling. Such letters by DOJ practice and regulation only go to people whom they intend to indict. Elias is Mary Peltola's lawyer. A stunning move that is likely to backfire badly.”

The DOJ lawsuit against Alaska election officials centers around the candidacy of Dan J. Sullivan, though U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason ruled on Sunday that the federal government lacked standing to bring the lawsuit and failed to show that its alleged injury could be redressed by a court order.

Gleason found that the government had failed to identify a workable remedy, noting that ballots already cast had been commingled and could not be traced to individual voters. She said requiring ballots cast for Sullivan Jr. to be segregated so voters could be investigated by law enforcement would “clearly violate Alaskans’ right to a secret ballot.”

“The absence of any explanation from the United States as to how its requested relief could redress its alleged injury while simultaneously maintaining the secrecy of the ballot is telling,” wrote Gleason, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama.

The DOJ argued in the lawsuit that the “sole purpose” of Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy is to “benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing the number of votes for Senator Sullivan.”

The lawsuit sought to block the certification of the Alaska Senate results if the incumbent does not win and if he would have won "had all votes cast for Dan J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska's ranked-choice process played out accordingly."

It would also have required an investigation into whether Alaskans who cast their vote for Dan J. Sullivan intended to vote for the incumbent and allow further procedures to determine what the election result would have been without the alleged confusion.

“DOJ plans to file a notice of appeal. Alaskan voters deserve a fair election, not to be misled in an attempt to rig outcomes,” the DOJ previously said in a statement to Newsweek.

Alaska uses a ranked-choice jungle electoral system in which all candidates appear on a single ballot in the primary, and the four with the most support advance to the general election. In this case, Peltola and Senator Dan Sullivan were joined by two other Republicans on the ballot—Gerald Heikes and Dan J. Sullivan.

If no candidates receive an outright majority, the candidate with the least number of votes would be eliminated, and the votes they received would be distributed to the voter's second choice. The process would repeat itself if, again, no candidate breaks 50 percent.

Polls have pointed to a close race in Alaska, a longtime GOP stronghold that has seen narrowing margins for Republicans over the past decades.

An AtlasIntel survey, conducted among 522 likely voters October 28-Novmeber 1, showed Peltola up about 5 points, 50 percent to 45 percent. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

An InsiderAdvantage poll showed a tie at 50 percent. It surveyed 1,200 likely voters October 31-November 1, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.

Peltola led by about 2 points, 48 percent to 46 percent, in a poll from The New York Times, which surveyed 610 likely voters October 23-30.

Trump carried Alaska by 13 points in 2024, 10 points in 2020 and 15 in 2016. Republicans also won Alaska by 14 points in 2012, nearly 22 in 2008, 26 in 2004 and 31 in 2000.

Prediction markets gave the advantage to Peltola. She had a 69 percent chance of victory on Kalshi and a 70 percent chance on Polymarket as of Tuesday evening.

Prediction markets allow traders to buy and sell contracts tied to political outcomes and current events, aggregating real‑money wagers into probability estimates.

Prices fluctuate as traders react to polling, fundraising, candidate developments and broader political trends. They measure trader sentiment at a given moment but do not always accurately predict the future.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Dave Siminoff.