US Attorney General Todd Blanche Defends Alaska Senate Election Lawsuit | News 2026 US midterm elections

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Justice Department’s decision to sue to prevent certification of the Republican defeat in Alaska’s tight Senate race.

On Sunday, Blanche toured morning political shows across the United States, stopping at CNN’s State of the Union and CBS’s Face the Nation.

At each appearance, he faced pointed questions about the legality of the Justice Department’s efforts, responding, in some cases, with open frustration.

“Why is this controversial?” » Blanche asked CNN host Dana Bash at one point. He then accused one of the candidates in the Senate race of intentionally trying to confuse voters.

“We are going to try to create a situation where it is possible to remedy this situation,” he said. “It shouldn’t be something that causes this shock and horror.”

But the Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed Oct. 22, has faced bipartisan criticism.

Many have accused President Donald Trump’s administration of laying the groundwork to block a Democratic victory in the race. Trump himself claimed to have authorized the trial.

“I was the one who said do it,” he told reporters Friday.

In the Alaska Senate race

In the November 3 midterm elections, Alaska citizens will vote in one of the nation’s tightest Senate races, which will help decide whether Republicans will maintain their majority in the chamber.

Senator Dan S Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, is seeking to defend his seat in the US Senate. But he faces stiff competition from former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat.

Another candidate named Dan J Sullivan, a former Forest Service employee, is also in the running.

The runner-up Sullivan’s decision to run has sparked concerns that he is a spoiler candidate, whose presence on the ballot is intended to siphon votes away from the incumbent.

But the Forest Service official denied any such intention. Such allegations, he said, are “completely false.”

“I am not a registered Democrat and have not had any conversations with the Peltola campaign regarding my candidacy,” the sophomore Sullivan wrote in a letter to Alaska’s lieutenant governor before the state’s primary.

“I have been considering running for political office for over a decade. I have made the decision to formally run for U.S. Senate in the upcoming primary election because Senator Sullivan has consistently failed the people of Alaska, and they deserve a better representative. It is my right to do so.”

Four candidates advanced to the final round of voting after Alaska’s August primary. They included Peltola and the two Sullivans. Both men are running as Republicans.

A controversial trial

The Justice Department argued that its complaint — filed less than two weeks before the midterm elections — was necessary “to protect the integrity” of the election.

Any outcome in the Senate race, he claims, would be “tainted by the inclusion on the ballot of Daniel J Sullivan.”

The department therefore asked the U.S. District Court in Alaska to issue an order declaring the certification of the race “unlawful” and prohibiting the state from “permitting such certification to take place.”

Under the U.S. Constitution, only states have the authority to administer elections, although Congress has the right to pass regulations regarding federal votes.

It is highly unusual for a presidential administration to interfere in matters of certification of national elections, and experts say such a move risks being considered illegal.

Already in June, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that both Sullivans could enter the Senate race. The state Division of Elections has also taken steps to reduce voter confusion.

The November 3 ballot, for example, will name Dan S Sullivan as the incumbent and a “registered Republican.”

Dan J Sullivan, meanwhile, will have the suffix “Jr” added to his name and his party affiliation left blank, even if the candidate identifies as Republican.

But during Sunday’s television appearances, Blanche — who heads the Justice Department and was previously Trump’s personal lawyer — argued that simply having two Sullivans on the ballot was confusing.

“That’s not true,” Blanche told CNN. “Even though we’re going to win or lose in court, aside from what the Alaska Supreme Court did, in our system we shouldn’t have a candidate who has to worry about another candidate being on the ballot for the sole reason of confusing voters.”

Blanche also denied any impropriety by Trump, saying he ordered the trial.

“He’s supposed to make sure that everything goes well in this country, including elections,” Blanche said.

The Senate race

Historically, the Justice Department has adopted a standard of judicial independence, even as critics have accused the Trump administration of using its prosecutorial powers for political purposes.

Bash, the CNN host, raised some of these concerns, highlighting Trump’s comments accusing Democrats of cheating, as well as his history of election denialism.

The president has long denied his defeat in the 2020 presidential race, and his supporters have sought to block certification of that election, including storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

When Bash pointed out this incident, Blanche scolded her, “Oh, you need to stop with that.”

“Why are you yelling at me?” Bash responded as the two spoke.

“You’re not a real person. Come on, man,” Blanche continued. “It’s crazy.”

He also denied that Trump was setting the stage for a contested election if Democrat Peltola were to win. Instead, he presented the trial as setting the stage for further investigations into the eventual outcomes.

“The relief that we’re seeking — which, again, is not about who the senator is, it’s not about trying to overturn something that the state is going to do — it’s just to make sure that the ballots that come in are preserved in a way that allows a court to investigate further,” Blanche said.

Speaking to CBS, Blanche also dodged a question about whether Trump had personally asked her to take legal action.

“I will never, ever talk about the communications I have with the President of the United States. I never have and I never will,” Blanche said.

The race for control of the US Senate promises to be difficult, with the Republicans currently holding a slim majority: they have 53 seats out of the 100 in the House.

Only a third of Senate seats – 35 in total – will be up for grabs in the midterm elections, because House terms last six years and are staggered across different election years.

Trump’s Republican Party is expected to face an uphill battle to protect its congressional majorities amid backlash against the rising cost of living and Trump’s poll numbers.

About seven Senate elections are considered toss-ups, including the Alaska race.

In early October, The New York Times and Siena College published a poll that found Peltola leading incumbent Sullivan by nearly 7 percentage points, one of the widest margins of any state.