A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking to delay certification of Alaska’s Senate election if incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) loses, halting its push for discovery into an alleged Democratic-backed spoiler campaign led by allies of Senate candidate Mary Peltola.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, found the DOJ lacked standing because it offered no workable remedy for the voter confusion it alleged. The push for discovery intensified just days after the department filed the lawsuit last weekend, following the midweek New York Times report that Democratic operatives helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., whose name resembles the senator’s, to siphon support from the incumbent.
