U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican, and former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, are U.S. Senate candidates for Alaska.
Kent Nishimura | Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images
A federal judge in Alaska on Friday kept on a fast track efforts to dismiss a Department of Justice lawsuit that seeks to delay certification of the state’s U.S. Senate election because of possible voter confusion from having two Dan Sullivans — one of whom is the incumbent Republican — on the ballot.
Judge Sharon Gleason ordered the DOJ to respond by 1 p.m. Alaska Time Friday to the new dismissal motions, which were filed hours after the department amended its suit in U.S. District Court in Anchorage on Thursday to add a new legal claim.
The DOJ’s updating of the civil complaint forced Gleason to rule the prior dismissal motions were moot.
Gleason gave state election officials, the campaign of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola, and other groups until noon Saturday to reply to the DOJ’s response.
The judge’s order leaves open the possibility that she will rule on the dismissal motions before Tuesday, which is Election Day, as both the state and Peltola’s campaign have asked.
The state, the campaign, and other intervenors in the suit argue the DOJ has no legal authority to block certification of an election because two candidates on a four-candidate ballot happen to share the same name.
The winner of Alaska’s race could determine which party holds a majority in the Senate in January. Republicans currently have 53 seats in the 100-member chamber.
Alaska’s election uses ranked choice. If no candidate obtains more than 50% of the vote in the first count, then the fourth-place finisher will be eliminated, and the second choice on that candidate’s ballots will be allocated to the remaining candidates.
Only Peltola and Sen. Sullivan are considered likely to draw large shares of the votes.
The DOJ’s suit seeks to delay certification of the Senate election if Sen. Sullivan loses by a margin that could be attributable to voter confusion over the presence of the other candidate, who is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan, on the ballot.
Dan J. Sullivan, a candidate in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race who shares his name with the incumbent seeking reelection, talks with a reporter in Petersburg, Alaska, July 3, 2026.
Becky Bohrer | AP
The amended complaint, which updates the suit filed on Oct. 23, added a claim under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to the first claim, under the National Voter Registration Act.
The DOJ also included details of a New York Times article published on Wednesday that reported that Peltola campaign aides and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit the retired school teacher Danel J. Sullivan to enter the Senate race with the hope of drawing votes from the incumbent Sullivan.
Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC deny being involved in the retiree’s Senate campaign.
Peltola’s campaign, in its dismissal motion filed Thursday, said, “Rather than defend its indefensible legal claims as it was ordered to do, the Department of Justice … has filed an Amended Complaint that does nothing to address the fatal problems that preclude it from bringing this case or obtaining the relief that it seeks.”
“The U.S. Constitution leaves the regulation of federal elections exclusively to the States and to Congress, and DOJ has no statutory authority to bring this case,” the motion said.
In their own dismissal motion, state election officials said the amended lawsuit “rests on the same meritless theory that the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)—a voter registration law—governs this case, which has nothing to do with voter registration.”
“Because this reading of the NVRA fails, the amended complaint fails,” the motion said.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has asked