President Donald Trump repeated his claim that Alaska’s Senate election is unfair, defending a Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to stop the state from certifying results if the Republican incumbent loses narrowly. However, it was made amid the administration facing mounting criticism over federal involvement in state election matters ahead of the November midterms.
President Donald Trump defends Alaska lawsuit ahead of November midterms
Trump told reporters before departing for Michigan that Democrats engineered challenger Dan J. Sullivan Jr.’s campaign to confuse voters, since his name closely mirrors incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan’s. “They’ve made it very unclear, and I think it’s very unfair,” Trump said. “I think it’s illegal because it’s unfair. You want fairness in voting.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche pushed back on suggestions that the lawsuit positions the administration to control state election outcomes. On CNN’s State of the Union, Blanche said the department filed the suit solely over ballot confusion in Alaska. “President Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape, or form. We’re not laying any groundwork for the president to do that.” Further clarifying the challenger entered the race “to confuse voters,” a claim Dan J. Sullivan Jr. has denied in interviews. The lawsuit, according to Blanche, gives officials room to determine whether confusion violated the law.
The Alaska filing is not an isolated move. The administration has also sued California over mail-in ballot counting and pushed 30 states and Washington, D.C., to hand over complete voter rolls. Election officials across the country told Reuters they are bracing for possible federal interference in the midterms. Critics, including some Republican election officials, call the Alaska action part of a broader pattern. Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, told NBC’s Meet the Press that the department’s willingness to sign onto the suit reveals “how far they will go after this election is over to try to challenge the results.”
Blanche declined to say whether Trump personally ordered the lawsuit, though the president has said he did.
