Murkowski says Justice Department shouldn't have sued over two Sullivans

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Friday that the U.S. Justice Department should not have sued Alaska over the two candidates named Sullivan in the state's U.S. Senate race.

"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," she wrote in a post on X. "The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit."

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Anchorage, asks a judge to block the state from certifying the Senate result if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses and would have won had every vote for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. gone to him instead. It asks for an investigation into whether those votes "were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan" and for procedures "to determine what the result would have been" without the challenger on the ballot. The department says some of the senator's supporters "likely will inadvertently vote" for the wrong Sullivan and argues that certifying a result shaped by that confusion would violate the National Voter Registration Act, Alaska News reported Friday.

The state tried to keep Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a Petersburg retiree, off the ballot. In June, Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher found his candidacy was "for the purpose of confusing or misleading voters." A state judge ruled the division had abused its discretion, and the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed June 29.

The ballot lists the senator as "Sullivan, Dan S." with his party registration and the word "Incumbent." It lists the challenger, a registered Republican, as "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." with no party.

Murkowski endorsed Sen. Sullivan, a fellow Republican, for reelection in January, according to a statement from the Sullivan campaign. She had backed Democrat Mary Peltola, his opponent this year, in Peltola's earlier U.S. House races.

Four candidates are on the Senate ballot: the two Sullivans, Peltola and Republican Gerald Heikes. In the August primary, Peltola got 49.5% of the vote, Sen. Sullivan 41.4%, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. 2.5% and Heikes 1.1%, according to official results. The general election uses ranked-choice voting: if no one has more than half the votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots go to each voter's next choice, round by round, until someone does.

The general election is Nov. 3, and early voting began Oct. 19. Mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day count if they arrive within 10 days, or 15 days from overseas.