Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Justice Department's newly filed lawsuit to prevent Alaska state officials from certifying election results if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses in November.
In an at-times contentious interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Blanche pointed out that according to the Constitution, Congress can create laws at any time to regulate elections. But when host Dana Bash asked what crime the administration was arguing was being committed, Blanche replied, “It depends.”
“There could be a crime,” said Blanche. “But the real wrong here is that Alaskans are going to be confused and will not have their vote heard. So an Alaskan intends to vote for one candidate, but is confused because of a second candidate with exactly the same name who has voted Democrat his entire life, who donated money to the other Democrat opponent, is running.”
Bash pressed Blanche on how it is illegal for two candidates with the same name to be on a ballot at the same time.
"It is an obligation of the states to avoid confusion, among other things, confusion in the minds of voters in the election process,” Blanche replied. “So the question is whether Alaska, by allowing this to happen, is violating the law and the federal law and the constitution by allowing confusion in the ballot."
The Alaskan Supreme Court in June ruled that both Sullivans may remain on the ballot as the incumbent faces off in a tight reelection battle with former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. The four-person Senate ranked-choice ballot for the general election specifies that Dan S. Sullivan is a "Registered Republican" and the "incumbent" — no information is listed after Dan J. Sullivan Jr's name.
Regardless, in the suit filed Thursday, DOJ argued that Dan J. Sullivan Jr.’s name on the ballot constitutes a purposeful effort to mislead voters.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) argued the administration has no standing to bring the lawsuit, and he lambasted Blanche for leading a “disgraceful campaign.”
“This suit has no chance of succeeding,” said Schiff. “But the fact that Todd Blanche and the Justice Department are willing to go along with it, they're willing to put their name on it, is an indication of how far they will go after this election is over to try to challenge the results.”
Still, it’s unclear how much the court can do about the Justice Department’s lawsuit. With ballots secret, it is virtually impossible for the Justice Department to identify specific voters and clarify which Sullivan candidate they meant to vote for.
Blanche, though, seemed unconcerned about that hurdle.
“There are a number of scenarios where it could be obvious that a voter was confused by the way they wrote down candidates,” said Blanche.
Republican groups have worked to differentiate between the two Sullivans.
President Donald Trump on Friday said the legal challenge was his idea, though Blanche on Sunday declined to state whether the president had directed him to file the suit.
"I will never talk about any communications I have with the president of the United States,” he said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is not up for reelection this year, said Friday that the lawsuit is unnecessary.
“Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot,” Murkowski said in a post on X. “The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.”
Her comments drew the ire of Trump, who on Saturday called Murkowski “Republicans’ Worst Senator, by far,” in a post to Truth Social.
Trump said that Alaska’s ranked choice voting system is “a TOTAL DEMOCRAT SCAM meant to confuse the Voter, so that Senator Dan Sullivan will lose Votes to a man who has never participated in Politics before, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.”
“He is only there because the Democrats want to steal the Election, and Murkowski probably wants that to happen, which is why she is against the DOJ filing a Lawsuit in order to stop this impending crime and tragedy,” Trump added. “I have delivered for Alaska at Historic Levels, nobody has ever seen anything like it, and all I’m asking for is a FAIR AND HONEST SENATORIAL ELECTION! Lisa Murkowski is a DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country. You just don’t get any worse!"
Democratic leaders have also widely condemned the lawsuit, arguing the president is attempting to lay the foundation to overturn the midterm election results if their candidates win critical elections — something Bash asked Blanche about on Sunday.
“One of the big questions is whether or not the president is laying the groundwork for a scenario where, whether it's Alaska or somewhere else, there is, in your words a couple of days ago, a 'doomsday scenario' and we could be in a situation where President Trump tries to overturn the election and the result of that could be, god forbid, what we saw after January 6th,” Bash said.
Blanche quickly fired back: “Oh stop it. You gotta stop it with that. You're not being a real person. You set me up. You're saying, “'Mr. Attorney General, because the president of the United States wants to stop fraud and confusion in Alaska, is he going to do something crazy?' That is not a real question.”
Bash replied that she did not think it was an unfair question, but Blanche argued that the premise of the question was untrue.
“Instead of focusing on how we can address that and how we can remedy that, you're talking about January 6th,” he said. “That's so embarrassing to this network that that's what you're talking about.”
“Oh, come on,” Bash said.
"Don't “oh, come on” me,” replied Blanche. “There's literally confusion."
Blanche denied any political motivations were behind the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
“It's important the American people understand that we are not — President Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape or form,” he said. “What we're trying to do is make it clear that if it is obvious after the election, that confusion led to an improper and illegal result that the Alaskan system should be able to address that.”
This article originally appeared on Politico at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/25/blanche-alaska-lawsuit-could-be-crime-01134861