Vice President JD Vance has an explanation for why Alaskans might pick the wrong Dan Sullivan on their Senate ballot — they are busy.
Vance defended the Justice Department’s fast-tracked lawsuit over Alaska’s Senate race on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, after a reporter challenged whether the administration was insulting the intelligence of Alaska voters. The ballot lists Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan as the incumbent and unaffiliated candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. with no party beside his name. The suit asks a federal court to block certification of the result if the senator loses to Democrat Mary Peltola.
“Well, I think the question presumes quite a bit,” Vance replied. “I mean, look, a lot of Alaskans are going to go and look at the ballot and realize exactly what you said, that this is all a big fraud.”
“But people are busy. People have lives. People have jobs. And when you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that’s the definition of electoral fraud. And I don’t think that we should endorse it,” Vance said. He then turned on the press, telling reporters they should be putting harder questions to the Democratic Party.
The Lawsuit Trump Says He Ordered
President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday, Oct. 23, that he personally directed the Justice Department to file the case. The complaint landed the day before, on Thursday, Oct. 22. It asks the court to prevent certification if Sullivan — endorsed by Trump — loses, and if he would have won had every vote cast for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. gone to him instead under Alaska’s ranked-choice system. The administration alleges the second Sullivan entered the race intending to mislead the senator’s supporters.
A Ruling Could Land Before the Weekend
U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason imposed an emergency schedule Monday, Oct. 26, fast-tracking motions by Peltola’s campaign and the League of Women Voters of Alaska to intervene. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, she allowed the Democrats to intervene, and she planned to rule on the motions to dismiss by 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29.
The defendants want it gone now. Alaska election officials, named in the suit, filed their own motion Monday urging immediate dismissal, telling the court the case has no legal basis. They said the ballots were printed without legal challenge in the months before voting opened, and that the design separates the two men by their different middle initials, the “Jr.” after Daniel J.’s name and other features. The state government that runs those elections is Republican-led.
Voting rights groups got there first, filing Friday, Oct. 23, to argue the suit was frivolous and to ask the court to weigh sanctions against the attorneys behind it. Peltola’s campaign followed Sunday, Oct. 25, seeking to intervene and arguing the case is meant to cast doubt on the lawfulness of Alaska’s results and set up a challenge to a Peltola victory. Attorney General Todd Blanche, on CNN’s “State of the Union” that same Sunday, said no groundwork was being laid for the president, and that if confusion became an issue after the election, the government would be able to determine whether the law was broken.
The Other Dan Sullivan Pushes Back
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is a retired teacher. He called the suit a “gross misuse of the Justice Department for a situation that has already been litigated and resolved by the Alaska Supreme Court,” he wrote in an email. Alaska election officials had once fought to keep him off the ballot; the Alaska Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that both Dan Sullivans would appear.
Ballots have been in voters’ hands for a while. Early voting began Oct. 19 for most of Alaska, two weeks ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
A Recruiting Allegation Lands
The Justice Department said it would seek expedited discovery from Peltola’s campaign after a published report that the campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee may have helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to run.
Peltola suffered minor injuries Saturday, Oct. 24, when another driver struck her vehicle. She led Sullivan 50-43 in a Times/Siena survey taken in late September. Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, and a Peltola win would hand Democrats an Alaska Senate seat they have not won since 2008.
Sullivan is making his own closing argument. He urged Alaskans not to “waste their vote,” he told Fox News, describing the fight over the two Dan Sullivans as corruption running to the highest levels of government.