Trump’s effort to challenge Alaska’s election belongs in the context of his attempts to overturn Biden’s victory.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Key Takeaways
- Trump’s lawsuit in Alaska parallels his efforts to overturn Biden’s election win in Georgia.
- He pressured officials in Georgia to falsify vote counts and organized alternate electoral slates.
- The Alaska lawsuit involves confusion over candidates’ names and seeks to delay certification of election results.
- California’s Justice Department aims to block mail ballots allegedly linked to noncitizens, drawing criticism as another example of Trump’s tactics.
- Urgent questions arise about the legitimacy of these legal challenges and the integrity of democratic processes.
I have been keeping watch from my home near Mud Creek, in Marietta, Georgia, for more than three decades. In 2015, I turned my attention to Donald Trump as soon as he took that golden escalator ride to spew the language that we’ve had to deal with for a decade. I turned that writing on my blog into The Trump Files: An Account of the Trump Administration’s Effect on American Democracy, Human Rights, Science and Public Health, a book published in 2022. The Mud Creek Chronicles continued and are published here, and on Substack.
When I read about the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Alaska, I thought immediately of Georgia. I live here, and I remember the president’s telephone call asking a state official to produce enough votes to reverse his defeat. That history gives us reason to examine closely what his administration is attempting now.
Do You Remember the Phone Call
On January 2, 2021, Trump called Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes.” Biden’s winning margin was 11,779. Raffensperger resisted the pressure and rejected Trump’s false fraud claims.
The call was part of a broader effort. Trump and his allies organized competing electoral slates in seven states Biden won. These involved Electoral College certificates, rather than ordinary ballots. The January 6 committee found that the documents were intended to help justify rejecting or delaying Biden’s legitimate electoral votes. Trump also pressured Vice President Mike Pence to interfere with the count and urged Justice Department officials to declare the election corrupt. Officials who refused helped prevent those efforts from succeeding.
Donald Trump and 18 others were accused of knowingly and willfully joining a racketeering enterprise. They unlawfully tried to change the outcome of the election (in Georgia) in favor of Trump. According to the Fulton County indictment, the enterprise contained a common plan and purpose: to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states. Four of the racketeers pleaded guilty and wrote letters of apology to the citizens of Georgia. It was the strongest case against Trump and fellow racketeers. Unfortunately, Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, dropped all charges against all remaining defendants, ending the case in November 2025.
The Alaska Alaska Lawsuit
That record supplies the context for Alaska. The Justice Department’s October 22 lawsuit concerns Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan and another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., whose similar name the administration alleges could confuse voters. Democrat Mary Peltola is challenging the incumbent. The complaint seeks to prevent certification of an outcome potentially affected by that confusion while investigators examine voter intent. Its allegations remain unproven. This is an example of Trump’s plan to interfere in the midterm elections.
Alaska’s courts had already permitted the second Sullivan’s candidacy, and the ballot distinguishes the candidates. Trump acknowledged directing the federal lawsuit. Its practical significance would arise if the incumbent loses narrowly enough that votes for his namesake could have affected the outcome.
The connection is troubling: once again, an unfavorable electoral outcome becomes the target of pressure on the institutions responsible for recognizing it. In Georgia, Trump sought action from a state official. In Alaska, his administration is using the Justice Department to seek a court order before voting is completed.
Filing a lawsuit is lawful, and this case does not itself establish criminal conduct. But lawful procedures can be used in attempts to obstruct legitimate outcomes. Election-law experts have questioned the Alaska suit’s legal foundation and how investigators could establish voters’ private intentions. The 2020 record makes those questions especially urgent.
California Noncitizens Voting Lawsuit
California offers another warning. The Justice Department is seeking to block the counting of more than 20,000 mail ballots associated with people it alleges are likely noncitizens. Those allegations remain disputed. According to a PBS report, local election officials across California are confused and frustrated after receiving letters from President Donald Trump’s Justice Department demanding that county registrars sequester ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizen voters ahead of the midterm elections. This is another example of the Trump administration using falsehoods to claim that non-citizens voting is a problem across the country. It isn’t.
For me, keeping watch means remembering how pressure accumulates: allegations, official demands, legal challenges, and efforts to obstruct certification. We should investigate genuine wrongdoing and demand evidence for every claim. Above all, we should insist that the same standards govern victories and defeats. Democracy depends on officials who recognize that losing an election does not authorize them to override the voters.
You must be logged in to post a comment.