The Trump administration asked a federal court on Friday to block certification of the Senate election in Alaska if the Republican incumbent narrowly loses, a highly unusual move that signaled an effort to potentially intervene in the outcome.
President Trump made clear that he had demanded the lawsuit, acknowledging how directly he has harnessed the Justice Department to carry out his wishes. “I’m the one that said do it,” he told reporters hours later.
The Justice Department, in the lawsuit, argued that confusion over a candidate on the ballot with a name very similar to that of the incumbent, Senator Dan S. Sullivan, could taint the election result.
Polls show that the senator is in a close race against Mary Peltola, a Democrat. However, the ballot includes Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., another Republican, though the senator’s line on the state ballot describes him as the incumbent.
The administration’s new legal gambit highlights its intensifying efforts to assert control over the midterm elections, as control of Congress hangs in the balance. Elections are administered by state and local officials, but in recent weeks, the Trump administration has filed a raft of lawsuits seeking to alter how states like Alaska and California do so.
David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a nonpartisan group that advises election officials, said he could not recall a similar instance in which the federal government had sought to block certification of an election, “and certainly not 11 days before an election.” State officials have already addressed the issue of the candidate with a similar name, he said.
“D.O.J. making this claim this late smells of political interference and is against D.O.J. policy,” Mr. Becker said. “The feds have absolutely no authority to tell Alaska when and how to certify. The state officials are following Alaska state law, as the Constitution requires.” He said he expected the courts to reject the administration’s lawsuit.
For months, Republicans have tried to get the second Mr. Sullivan off the ballot, arguing he is a Democratic plant meant to siphon away key votes in a thinly populated state where the winner could be decided by a narrow margin. Republicans noted the challenger had only recently registered as a Republican; he seemed to be working with a Democratic strategist; and he appeared to have a history of donating to Democratic candidates, including Ms. Peltola.
In June, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the second Mr. Sullivan could appear on the ballot, ahead of the primary.
The lawsuit, signed by a senior Justice Department official, Stanley Woodward, argues “there is a realistic chance that, even if a majority of Alaskans wish to vote for Senator Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot will result in a victory for Peltola.”
To guard against voter confusion, the suit argues, Alaska should “not certify any election result that may be impacted by voter confusion.” The possibility of such confusion exists, the suit continued, if “(1) Senator Sullivan does not win the election; and (2) had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska’s rank-choice process played out accordingly, Senator Sullivan would have won the election.”
Alaska’s voting system allows voters to list candidates in order of preference, with the tallies used in the event that no candidate secures a majority of the first-choice vote. The Trump administration argues that the system could add to confusion in the Senate race, because voters might confuse the Sullivans and rank the candidates in an order different than what they intended.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked ranked-choice voting and criticized the decision to allow the second Mr. Sullivan’s name to remain on the ballot. On Wednesday night, he did so again on social media, writing: “It’s ridiculous that the Court didn’t stop this SCAM.”
Alaska’s Division of Elections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for Senator Sullivan’s campaign said in a statement that voters would easily be able to make the distinction between candidates. “We’ll let the D.O.J. complaint run its course,” said the spokesman, Nate Adams. “Alaskans can tell the difference between a Democrat sideshow and Senator Sullivan’s strong record of delivering for Alaska.”
A spokesman for Ms. Peltola said the Justice Department’s lawsuit was a “despicable political threat to overturn an election” that aimed to “suppress the voices of Alaskans because Sullivan is terrified he’ll lose the seat.”
The Justice Department lawsuit argues that if the incumbent Republican loses and it appears he might have won but for the other Mr. Sullivan on the ballot, then the vote should not be certified until “an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan and any further procedures or relief this court deems necessary and appropriate.” It is unclear how such an investigation would work, since ballots are cast anonymously.
Audrey Cook, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the department “is taking the necessary steps to ensure that this frivolous candidacy does not undermine the integrity of Alaska’s election or the will of its voters.”
The 14-page lawsuit is the latest demand from the Trump administration as it tries to assert more control over elections.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department sued the state of California over what it says are 20,000 noncitizens registered to vote in the state. Legal experts consider that suit’s chances of success to be small, and a hearing is scheduled for next week.
The administration has made similar claims against other states, and the president has long claimed, despite evidence showing otherwise, that he lost the 2020 election because of mass voter fraud by noncitizens.
Court records and analyses by election experts has shown that illegal voting, including by noncitizens, is exceedingly rare. So far, the second Trump administration has charged about 150 people across the United States with illegal voting or voting registration.
Kellen Browning contributed reporting from San Francisco.
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