Trump says he ordered the Justice Department to sue over Alaska's Senate race

President Donald Trump said in Fort Myers, Florida on Friday that he had directed the Justice Department to bring a lawsuit over Alaska’s Senate race. “I'm the one that said do it,” Trump told reporters.

The department filed the case on Thursday in US District Court in Alaska, less than two weeks before the 3 November election. It seeks to block Alaska from certifying the winner if the incumbent Republican senator, Dan S. Sullivan, loses.

The filing centres on Daniel J. Sullivan, an independent candidate who shares the incumbent’s name. The Justice Department said his place on the ballot could confuse voters.

Daniel J. Sullivan had belonged to the Alaska Independence Party before registering as a Republican earlier this year. He received 2.5% of the vote in Alaska’s 28 August open primary.

That primary left Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee, on 49.5%, while Senator Sullivan received 41.4%. Peltola, a former US congresswoman, is now running against Sullivan in a race expected to be close and potentially decisive for control of the Senate.

Republicans hold a narrow majority in the chamber.

A Public Policy Polling survey conducted earlier in the month put Peltola one point ahead of Senator Sullivan.

The Alaska state Supreme Court had rejected a Republican attempt to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the general-election ballot in June.

Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, allowing voters who are uncertain to select both men. The ballot lists Senator Sullivan as the Republican candidate, while Daniel J. Sullivan has no party designation.

Before the case was filed, Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters on Wednesday that the Justice Department did not plan to “improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process.”

Its filing nevertheless argued: “Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J Sullivan will confuse or mislead voters looking to cast a vote for Senator Sullivan, and thus distort the will of Alaskan voters, there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity.”

The department asked a federal judge to delay certification while it investigates “whether votes cast for Daniel J Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.”

Trump also wrote on Truth Social: “I am very concerned about the Dan S. Sullivan Race for the U.S. Senate in Alaska in that it is totally confusing, with the Dumocrats putting up another man, totally unrelated to Politics, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.”

Lauren Miller Karalunas, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said election certification is handled by US states and that the federal government has “no role” in it.

Senator Sullivan has held his Senate seat since 2015.