Democrats ask judge to dismiss Trump administration’s challenge to Alaska Senate race

Lawyers for Alaska Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee asked a federal judge on Friday to throw out a Justice Department suit aimed at the state's Senate contest. The government's case would bar certification of the results if Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses, and it comes less than two weeks before Election Day, with early voting already underway. No hearing has been scheduled, according to NBC News.

The department sued Alaska election officials on Thursday. Its theory is that the presence of a second candidate, Dan J. Sullivan Jr. , could mislead voters trying to support the incumbent. It wants certification blocked if the incumbent loses but would have won had ballots for the namesake been counted for him under ranked-choice rules. President Donald Trump has publicly called the race confusing and criticized the court for not stopping what he termed a scam.

Peltola's campaign and the DSCC, seeking to intervene, said the assumption that namesake voters meant to back the incumbent insults voters. They also doubted state defendants would defend forcefully, since officials tried removing Dan J. Sullivan Jr. from the ballot in June before a judge reversed that.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NBC News’s reporting. Read the full story at NBC News →