Peltola calls Alaska lawsuit a ‘desperate attempt’ for GOP to ‘cling to power’

Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola (D) responded to the Justice Department’s (DOJ) lawsuit seeking to block her state from certifying its election results should her Republican challenger lose, saying Friday the move was “frivolous.”

“This is clearly corruption. This is clearly a very desperate attempt to cling to power, using his allies in Washington, D.C. to rig the system even further,” Peltola, a former member of Congress, told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace.

The DOJ filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to block the certification of Alaska’s Senate race if anyone other than Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan wins. The department claimed that, since another candidate shares the same name as the GOP senator, the election results may be inaccurate.

The ballot includes Sen. Sullivan’s Republican affiliation and incumbent status to differentiate him from the other candidate in question, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.

“Should Alaska certify any electoral results tainted by the inclusion on the ballot of Daniel J. Sullivan … the State and its officers will fail in its obligation to protect the integrity of its election,” the filing reads.

Peltola said Friday she believes Alaska voters can tell the difference between the two candidates on the ballot and any argument otherwise is “not playing well with Alaskans.”

“It’s sending a message that Dan Sullivan does not believe that Alaskans are sophisticated enough to know exactly who they’re voting for and what the implications of their vote is,” Peltola said.

The Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), a nonprofit aiming to build confidence in U.S. elections, called the DOJ’s lawsuit “an unprecedented intervention.”

“This is purely a matter of state law, and the administration has absolutely no authority to tell Alaska when or how to certify the results of its Senate election,” CEIR E xecutive D irector David Becker said in a statement. “The DOJ attempting to intervene at this late stage is entirely against department policy.”

Democrats widely condemned the move, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called the lawsuit an “outrage” in a post to the social platform X Friday evening.

“This is an outrage. It shows they know they’re going to lose. We will fight tooth and nail. And we will win,” Schumer wrote.

The former Alaska lawmaker said she was not sure whether Sullivan supported the DOJ’s legal strategy. In an earlier statement sent to The Hill, the incumbent senator’s campaign spokesperson Nate Adams said his team would “let the DOJ complaint run its course.”

The president has repeatedly amplified unsubstantiated mass voter fraud claims, namely toward blue states. A new poll from the New York Times/Siena University found half of Americans believe Republicans may attempt to overturn the midterm results through illegal means.

Peltola there has never been a reason to doubt the security of Alaska’s election system.

“We’ve been running great elections for decades. There have never really been any abnormalities or irregularities to speak of,” Peltola said. “I have total confidence in Alaskans’ ability to know who they’re voting for.”

Nonpartisan election forecaster Decision Desk HQ, a partner of The Hill, gives Peltola a 61 percent chance of winning the Alaska Senate race.