The campaign of Alaska Senate Democratic nominee Mary Peltola asked a federal judge to fast-track a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice, seeking a dismissal before Election Day. The move aims to prevent the suit from interfering with the certification of the Senate race results.
In a court filing submitted late Sunday, lawyers for Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee expressed serious concern that President Donald Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche would use the pending litigation to challenge a potential Peltola victory. The filing argued that the lawsuit was designed to lay the groundwork for unlawful efforts if it remained active on November 3.
The Department of Justice filed the suit in U.S. District Court on Friday. Later that day, President Trump stated that he ordered the legal action. The DOJ is asking a judge to bar Alaska from certifying the election results if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses by a margin attributable to voter confusion with another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan.
The DOJ claims that Daniel J. Sullivan's sole purpose in running is to benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing votes for Senator Sullivan. The department argues that an investigation is necessary to determine if enough voters were confused by the similar names to swing the vote. However, the department has not explained how any pre-certification investigation could determine whether a specific voter was confused. The election ballot lists Sen. Sullivan as Dan S. Sullivan, an incumbent Republican, while the other candidate is listed simply as Daniel J. Sullivan without additional descriptors.
The winner of this race could determine which party holds a majority in the Senate starting in January.
Peltola's campaign and the DSCC asked the judge to order the DOJ to respond to their motion to intervene and their motion to dismiss by 5 p.m. Alaska Time on Tuesday, with a reply due Wednesday. The motion explicitly requests that the court dismiss the case within the week.
The filing criticized the DOJ for bringing the lawsuit less than two weeks before Election Day, raising issues governed by state law that were definitively resolved by the Alaska Supreme Court months ago. The lawyers described the suit as an unprecedented attempt to preclude certification if the candidate favored by the President loses narrowly.
"DOJ's claims are utterly without legal basis," the filing stated. It further argued that the lawsuit should not hang like a Sword of Damocles over the ongoing election, lending false legitimacy to efforts to spread false narratives about Alaska's elections as voting continues and results are tabulated.
Peltola addressed the suit on Friday night during an interview with Nicolle Wallace on MS NOW. She described the DOJ's action as corruption that Alaskans are tired of and characterized it as a desperate attempt to cling to power using allies in Washington, D.C., to rig the system.
Separately, Peltola's campaign announced on Sunday that she and her family sustained minor injuries requiring medical attention after their vehicle was struck by another driver on Saturday night while en route to the Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Banquet. As a result, campaign events scheduled for Sunday and Monday in Fairbanks and Bethel were canceled, with the campaign stating they would be rescheduled.
CNBC has requested comment from the Department of Justice.