Trump sues before the vote

President Donald Trump's Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola's victory in the 2026 US Senate election. The election won't happen for more than a week.

The spoiler candidate problem

A man named Dan J.Sullivan also secured a spot on the ballot.Republicans fear his presence might trick voters wishing to vote for incumbent Republican Sen.Dan S.Sullivan into voting for the wrong candidate instead.

The ballot makes it clear

According to Alaska's Division of Elections sample ballot, Sen. Sullivan will be identified as a Registered Republican and as the Incumbent, so voters will know which Dan Sullivan to vote for if they wish to…

Ranked-choice voting protects voters

Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, where voters rank candidates by preference and votes for losing candidates are redistributed to voters' next choice. Confused voters can rank both Dan Sullivans as top choices.

The courts already ruled

The Alaska Division of Elections, led by a Republican, tried to disqualify the not-senator. An Alaska court ordered him reinstated because no law prevents him from running, even as a spoiler candidate.

Alaska Supreme Court affirmed it

The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision last June. Republicans could have appealed to the US Supreme Court but did not, until Trump's Justice Department filed a new federal lawsuit.

Trump ordered the lawsuit

Trump's Justice Department filed the federal lawsuit less than two weeks before Election Day, claiming not-Senator Sullivan's presence on the ballot is illegal. Trump says he personally told the Justice Department to file this suit.

“Trump says that he personally told the Justice Department to file this suit.”

The legal argument is weak

It is difficult to find an actual legal argument in Trump's Justice Department complaint.The lawsuit is known as United States v.

The DOJ cites integrity vaguely

The Justice Department points to the National Voter Registration Act of nineteen ninety-three, which aims to protect electoral integrity, and to Bullock v. Carter, nineteen seventy-two, about frivolous candidacies. Neither actually addresses ballot access.

The National Voter Registration Act

The statute Trump's lawyers quote concerns voter registration, not which candidates appear on ballots. It imposes requirements on states such as registering voters when they obtain a driver's license.

Bullock doesn't support the case

Bullock v. Carter concerned unusually high filing fees in Texas. While it mentioned states may regulate frivolous candidacies, nothing suggests sharing a name makes a candidacy frivolous. Alaska charges a modest hundred dollar filing fee.

The Purcell principle blocks this

The Supreme Court warned in Purcell v. Gonzalez that court orders affecting elections can confuse voters as Election Day approaches. Trump's DOJ filed less than two weeks before the election, violating this principle.

“This Court has repeatedly emphasized that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election.”

The lawsuit will likely fail

It is likely the Trump administration's attempt to overturn a Democratic victory that hasn't happened yet will fail.But the lawsuit signals the administration will use every tool to overturn Democratic victories in the upcoming election.