Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Friday that the Department of Justice “should never have filed” its lawsuit over the Alaska Senate race. The suit seeks to block certification of the race if a second candidate named Dan Sullivan stays on the ballot. Her statement came after President Donald Trump said he ordered the suit. Murkowski has endorsed the incumbent, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Murkowski’s full post, published at 8:13 p.m. on Oct. 23, 2026, read:
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. The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.
The post responds to an Associated Press report updated Oct. 23. It reports that Trump told reporters he directed his administration to file the suit. The suit was filed late Thursday in federal court in Alaska. It demands that the state be blocked from certifying a win by Democrat Mary Peltola if Daniel J. Sullivan of Petersburg remains on the ballot.
The lawsuit says it is intended to protect the integrity of the 2026 Senate election in Alaska. It was filed 11 days before the Nov. 3 election and months after the final ballot was set. It asks that certification be halted pending an investigation into whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant for the incumbent. Republicans have argued he is a Democratic plant. He has said he decided to run on his own.
The report describes how the state has already addressed the concern. The Alaska Supreme Court rejected an earlier Republican effort to remove him. State Republican officials decided how to list him. He will appear with no party designation, while the senator is listed as the Republican incumbent. Alaska’s ranked-choice system also lets voters select both men. The report says Murkowski alluded to those steps in her post.
The Justice Department said in a statement that it is acting consistent with the National Voter Registration Act to ensure the candidacy does not undermine the integrity of Alaska’s election. Attorney General Todd Blanche said earlier in the week that it is never the department’s intention to improperly interfere with elections or state certification. Peltola called the suit flagrant corruption. Sullivan’s campaign said it would let the complaint run its course.
Derek Muller, a University of Notre Dame law professor, told the AP the statute does not let the Justice Department enjoin certification. He said the court will likely dismiss the case next month.
Murkowski’s record on Alaska’s ballot and elections
The ballot dispute began in June. Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, a Republican, disqualified Daniel J. Sullivan from the primary ballot, citing a state rule against ballot placement that is confusing or misleading to voters. A state judge then ordered him onto the ballot, and the Alaska Supreme Court took up the case on an expedited schedule.
Murkowski has long defended the ranked-choice system the lawsuit’s backdrop depends on. In a 2023 interview, asked whether she supports ranked-choice voting, she answered, “I am.” After her 2022 reelection she said the system let Alaska voters “determine our own electoral fate”. She won that race over Trump-backed Republican Kelly Tshibaka. The AP notes this year’s ballot also carries an initiative to repeal ranked-choice voting.
On federal election legislation, Murkowski was the first Republican senator to publicly oppose the SAVE Act. She said imposing new federal requirements this close to the midterms would force election officials to scramble and that “federal overreach” is not the way to build trust in elections. On March 17 she was the only Republican to vote against opening debate on the SAVE America Act. The Senate later rejected the bill, with Murkowski among four Republicans opposed.
The Alaska delegation split on that bill. Rep. Nick Begich called it “instrumental in strengthening election integrity and restoring trust in our election process.” The state’s election chief, Nancy Dahlstrom, sent Alaska voters’ information to the Department of Justice in December.
The Alaska suit is not the department’s only pre-election filing. The AP reports that it also sued California this month, demanding the state segregate ballots from 20,000 voters the administration believed could be noncitizens. California said many of those identified appeared to be citizens. Alaska’s ranked-choice count is expected to take weeks, so a winner may not be known soon after Nov. 3.