The Trump administration filed a lawsuit on Friday to block the certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if the Republican incumbent candidate, Dan Sullivan, loses due to a person appearing on the ballot with the same name.

Sullivan faces Democratic candidate Mary Peltola. Daniel J. Sullivan, who is unaffiliated with a political party, is also on the ballot. The Trump administration claims that he “decided to run for Senator in 2026 as a Republican with the intention of misleading supporters of Senator Sullivan into voting for him.”

Daniel J. Sullivan told Courthouse News he was running because he was fed up with the incumbent and wanted change.

“Daniel J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot threatens to mislead Alaskancitizens who want to vote for Senator Sullivan,” wrote Stanley Woodward, the associate attorney general and third-in-command at the Justice Department.

Citing concerns about the “integrity” of the Senate election, the department argued that “some supporters of Senator Sullivan likely will inadvertently vote for Daniel J. Sullivan” while “other supporters of Senator Sullivan likely will be confused as to how to rank the three Republican candidates as to defeat Peltola.”

“They might not rank Senator Sullivan at all, resulting in votes for Daniel J. Sullivan to be transferred to Peltola after Daniel J. Sullivan’s all-but-guaranteed elimination in the first or second round of tabulations,” Woodward wrote.

The Justice Department also wants the court to stop certification of any result “pending an investigation” about whether the similar names are to blame.

The race seems already too close for the administration’s comfort, according to the filing.

“Many polls indicate that the race between Senator Sullivan and Peltola will be within one or two percentage points, and Daniel J. Sullivan received 2.5% of the vote in the primary election,” Woodward wrote. “Thus, there is a realistic chance that, even if a majority of Alaskans wish to vote for Senator Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot will result in a victory for Peltola.”

The Alaska Supreme Court has already rejected the attempt to remove the other Sullivan, whom the Trump administration doesn’t want to win an election, and Republican officials in the state ensured that the Republican Dan Sullivan had his incumbent status clearly marked on the ballot.

Only a day ago, Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters it was “never our intention to improperly interfere with elections.”

The lawsuit in Alaska marks only the latest in a series of attempts by the administration to put the weight of the federal government on state-run elections.

Election Law Blog contributor and Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller noted in an analysis of the filing on Friday that the government’s legal argument to stop the certification is “one of the worst I’ve ever seen” and “absurdly thin.”

The White House did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.

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