President Trump’s words were deployed against him in a legal motion filed on Friday seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice that could potentially block the certification of the midterm Senate election in Alaska.
On Thursday, the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the election’s certification if incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola by less votes than received by independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, who is listed on the ballot without party affiliation.
The department argues the “sole purpose” of Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy is to benefit Peltola by tricking supporters of Senator Sullivan into voting for him.
However a rival lawsuit calling for this to be dismissed has been filed by two Alaska voters, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and campaign group Common Cause, which quotes Trump in support of its argument that the lawsuit was “filed at the behest” of the president.
Polling indicates the Senate election in Alaska is close, with several recent polls giving Peltola a slight lead. Democrats are hoping to seize the Senate at next months midterm elections and victory in Alaska, a traditionally red state, would be a big step towards this objective. Losing the Senate, where there are currently 53 Senators caucusing with the GOP versus 47 for the Democrats, would be a big blow to Trump and would significantly curtail his ability to get legislation passed.
Newsweek contacted the senate campaigns of Senator Dan Sullivan and Daniel J. Sullivan, along with the Justice Department and White House press offices, for comment on Saturday via email outside of regular office hours.
Justice Department Case
The Justice Department on Thursday filed a case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska arguing the result of the Alaska Senate race should not be certified unless Senator Sullivan either wins, or loses by a larger margin that the number of votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan.
The department argued Daniel J. Sullivan “sole purpose” in running is to “benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing the number of votes for for Senator Sullivan” by “misleading” some of his supporters about who they are voting for.
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If concluded that should Alaska “certify any electoral results tainted by the inclusion on the ballot of Daniel J. Sullivan” the state would have failed “in its obligation to protect the integrity of its election.”
In June the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that both Dan Sullivans can remain on the ballot paper, concluding there is no legal basis under either the Constitution or state law to remove Daniel J. Sullivan.
Rival Court Filing
Friday saw a motion to dismiss the Justice Department’s case filed with the Alaska district court on behalf of two Alaska voters, Risé Roy and Jan Jakub Grzeda, as well as the League of Women Voters of Alaska and campaign group Common Cause which says it protects voting rights.
It argues the federal government’s “assertion of nearly unlimited power to police” the election “defiles the Constitution’s careful federalist balance, in which states administer elections, subject only to federal interventions specifically authorized by Congress.”
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The motion adds the Justice Department’s filing would “disenfranchise voters and deny their fundamental right to vote” if successful.
It also suggests the court should “consider sanctions against the attorneys who signed the complaint” on the basis that it is “frivolous” and “unsupported by any case, legal principle, or arguably tenable reading of the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act].”
In support of this suggestion the filing says the Justice Department’s case “was filed at the behest of President Trump” noting that, when asked about the case by a reporter on Friday, the president replied: “I’m the one that said do it.”
It concludes: “The desire of powerful officials to try to achieve some result through the legal process does not turn a frivolous legal argument into a colorable one.”
Alaska Polling
Several recent Alaska polls have given Peltola a slight lead over Sullivan in the contest. Unlike most states Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, which it adopted in 2020, meaning voters list the candidates they prefer from first to last. This can lead to multiple rounds if no candidate get to 50 percent as other candidates are removed one by one.
A Rasmussen Reports survey of 775 Alaska likely voters, conducted between October 12 and October 15, put Peltola on 44 percent to Sullivan’s 42 percent. However this was within the three-percentage point margin of error.
Data for Progress polled 675 likely Alaska voters over October 8 to 16 and found Peltola ahead by two points in the final round, with 51 percent of the vote to Sullivans 49 percent. It’s margin of error was plus or minus four percent.
Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.