Judge Rejects Trump Administration Bid to Halt Alaska Senate Certification
A federal judge on Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to prevent Alaska from
certifying the results of its closely watched U.S. Senate race if Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan
loses.
US District Judge Sharon Gleason, sitting in Anchorage, rejected the Trump administration’s request to
segregate certain ballots and delay certification pending an investigation into possible voter confusion.
The lawsuit centered on the presence of a second candidate named Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a retired educator
running as a long-shot or independent, whose name closely matches the incumbent’s.
The race pits Sullivan, a Trump ally, against Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola in a ranked-choice
contest that could influence control of the Senate.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026, with early voting already under way when the suit was filed
in late October.
Gleason ruled that the government had not presented a workable plan to isolate ballots cast for Daniel
J. Sullivan and then investigate them without violating Alaska voters’ right to a secret ballot.
She noted that many ballots had already been cast and mixed, making segregation infeasible.
“This court lacks the authority to order that certain ballots cast by Alaskans be segregated so that
federal law enforcement officials can conduct an unspecified investigation of the voters who cast them,”
Gleason wrote.
She added that the United States “provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots
cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ‘investigation’ of
those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy.”
The judge further found that the requested relief would run counter to the Constitution’s allocation of
election administration to the states and cited the Supreme Court’s Purcell principle, which cautions
against federal courts altering election rules close to voting.
She dismissed the case for lack of standing and denied leave to amend.
State officials had argued the suit lacked merit and that determining voter intent would invade privacy.
President Donald Trump has publicly stated that he directed the Justice Department to file the action,
citing concerns that Democrats had recruited the similarly named candidate to sow confusion.
Sen. Dan S. Sullivan said on Sunday that he would accept the election results regardless of the outcome.
“I’m going to accept the election results,” he told CNN.
The ruling marks another setback for the administration’s recent efforts to assert a stronger federal role
in state-run elections.
The Alaska contest remains one of several that could decide Senate control, with Democrats needing a
net gain of seats in the midterms.
By Oyinkansola Shittu.
