WASHINGTON —
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit aiming to block the certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if the Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to the Democratic candidate.
The Republicans are concerned Dan J. Sullivan, who’s running as an Independent, will confuse voters.
Over the weekend, Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the lawsuit, claiming this is an effort to put guardrails in place if there’s voter confusion.
“If it’s clear that there was confusion and that confusion led to an unjust, improper result that is not the will of the Alaskan voters, we want to make sure that the Alaskan system and the Alaskan state courts and the Alaskan electoral process can understand that in a way that lets them do the right thing,” Blanche said.
Last week, Mary Peltola, Alaska’s Democratic Senate candidate, called out the lawsuit.
“This is the corruption AK is fed up with, and it’s why I’m in this race. Sullivan has enriched himself at our expense for 12 years. Now he’s using his DC allies to try to keep himself in power and put his own interests ahead of Alaskans.”
Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski criticized the legal action, saying the Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.
“Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot,” Murkowski said.
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