Blanche frames Alaska election suit as federal-law test

DOJ has not explained how intended votes could be determined

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Alaska has an obligation to avoid voter confusion and framed the Justice Department’s election lawsuit as a test of federal law and the Constitution. In the same CNN exchange, host Dana Bash raised Blanche’s earlier “doomsday” description of possible Justice Department involvement in vote certification, and Blanche called the comparison to the aftermath of the 2020 election and Jan. 6 “crazy.” The suit asks that certification be blocked after the election until the government investigates whether votes for Daniel J. Sullivan were intended for Sen. Dan Sullivan, though the Justice Department has not explained how that determination could be made under the secret nature of the ballot.

Blanche said, “It is an obligation of the states to avoid confusion, among other things, confusion in the minds of voters in the election process.” He framed the case as a test of whether Alaska had violated federal law and the Constitution by allowing a potentially confusing ballot process to continue. But he said the more precise demand for relief from the Justice Department was “to not certify if the law is broken,” and that the issue would ultimately be a question for Alaska and its courts to settle.

During the tense CNN exchange, Bash asked whether the Alaska case risked repeating some of the events during the aftermath of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol. Blanche replied, “Oh, you got to stop it with that. You are not being a real person. Come on, man,” calling the suggestion “crazy.” He said it was “so embarrassing” for CNN that the discussion had turned to Jan. 6.

Blanche separately denied that the lawsuit was setting the stage for President Trump to challenge the outcome of next week’s midterm elections. “We’re not laying any groundwork for the president to do that,” he told Bash. “President Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape, or form,” he added.

The Justice Department filed the suit late Thursday in federal court in Alaska. Citing the National Voter Registration Act, it asks the state not to “certify any election results that may be impacted by voter confusion.” The filing seeks to block certification after the election until the government investigates whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were intended for the senator. The department has not clarified how that determination could be made given the secret nature of the ballot.

Trump said Friday that he ordered the case. “I’m the one that said do it,” he told reporters in Florida.

On the Nov. 3 ballot, Daniel J. Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg whose name is remarkably similar to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s. Republicans have accused Daniel J. Sullivan of running as a spoiler to divert votes from the incumbent. The report identifies Daniel J. Sullivan as a Democrat who said the decision to run was his own. He denied that his candidacy was intended to confuse voters or siphon votes in the tight race against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.

The Justice Department’s explanation refers to confusion over an independent candidate’s name and says the overlap risks confusing voters, though some Democrats argue the case is an attempt to interfere in the democratic process. The Alaska seat is seen as vital to Republican efforts to maintain control of the Senate for the second half of President Trump’s term.

A state court and the Alaska Supreme Court kept Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot after Republican election officials sought his removal on the ground that his candidacy was intended to mislead voters. Blanche said that court decision “explicitly didn’t consider federal law.”

State officials have distinguished the two candidates on the ballot. The incumbent appears as “Dan S. Sullivan” and is marked as a registered Republican, while “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” carries no party label beside his name. Alaska’s ranked-choice system allows voters to rank both candidates. In the August primary, the senator won more than 68,000 votes to the other Sullivan’s 4,107.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska’s other Republican senator and a backer of Dan Sullivan’s reelection, said on social media that the state had already distinguished the candidates and that the Justice Department should not have sued.

The lawsuit was signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who represented several people accused of participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol before joining the department.

Arkansas item: A separate report said Democrats see an opening at the edge of the competitive midterms map in Arkansas.

Other politics item: A companion “Week in Politics” heading referenced “Ramaswamy’s Ohio ad” and Trump greenlighting the Justice Department to sue over the Alaska Senate race.