The Justice Department’s lawsuit on Thursday asking a federal court to block certification of the Senate race in Alaska if the Republican incumbent narrowly loses has revived a legal fight centered on Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher running for Senate.
The battle, which had been dormant for months before the Justice Department’s move, appeared to reach a conclusion in June, when Alaska’s top court said Dan J. Sullivan could appear on the ballot.
Alaska Republicans had sought to have Dan J. Sullivan, a registered Republican from a remote fishing village, removed from the ballot. They filed a complaint with the state’s Division of Elections and said Democrats had planted him in the race to hurt Senator Dan S. Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, by confusing voters.
The Division of Elections, which is overseen by Alaska’s lieutenant governor, a Republican, had followed through and removed Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot. But a state judge, citing the “Alaska Supreme Court’s well-established presumption in favor of candidate eligibility,” ordered Dan J. Sullivan back onto the ballot. The state Supreme Court upheld the decision.
In August, both Sullivans advanced in the state’s nonpartisan primary. Dan J. Sullivan is not waging a competitive general-election campaign, but Republicans have worried that he could win some votes intended for the senator, helping the Democratic candidate, Mary Peltola, a former representative.
Alaska uses a ranked-choice general-election system, which means any voters confused by the two Sullivans could rank them both before Ms. Peltola. But some Republicans have said they are concerned that some voters may rank only one of the Sullivans, and accidentally choose Dan J. Sullivan.
Ms. Peltola’s campaign has said it did not coordinate with Dan J. Sullivan. He has said that even though he voted for Ms. Peltola when she ran for the House of Representatives in 2022 and 2024, his previous support had no bearing on his decision to run against the incumbent.
In the primary, Senator Dan S. Sullivan trailed Ms. Peltola by about eight percentage points. Dan J. Sullivan won 2.5 percent of the vote, securing the third of four spots on the general-election ballot.
Dan J. Sullivan, who entered the race in May, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Justice Department’s lawsuit, and neither did the Alaska Division of Elections.
President Trump told reporters on Friday that he ordered the Justice Department to file the new lawsuit.
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