Spoiler candidates are nothing new in US politics. It’s clear why Trump is targeting Peltola

With a Senate majority potentially at stake, the Trump administration has moved to contest Alaska's Senate race before voters have cast ballots. The Justice Department, acting at Donald Trump's request, filed suit to stop certification should the Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan, narrowly lose. A judge threw out the case on Sunday, though the administration said it would appeal. Trump has also demanded that Democrat Mary Peltola, who leads in polls, be taken off the ballot and prosecuted, and Alaska's Republican governor has ordered an inquiry into her campaign, according to The Guardian.

The controversy centers on a second candidate named Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg. The New York Times reports that operatives tied to Peltola's campaign helped recruit this person to draw votes from the incumbent. Peltola and her campaign deny it. Alaska's supreme court declined to keep the candidate off the ballot.

Author Petala Ironcloud argues that the tactic is longstanding and that selective enforcement is the real issue. Trump allies boosted Kanye West, Jill Stein and Cornel West in earlier cycles without federal action, and Democratic-aligned groups are now backing a Libertarian, Thomas Raymond Laehn, in Iowa.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →