The campaign for control of Congress entered its final weekend on Saturday with an unusual flashpoint in Alaska, where the Justice Department has stepped up both a criminal investigation and a civil lawsuit in a Senate race that could help decide which party holds the chamber after Tuesday’s vote.
At issue is a ballot that lists two men named Sullivan: the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan S. Sullivan, and a nonpartisan candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher from a remote fishing village. The department’s top prosecutor in Alaska has called the second Sullivan a “sham candidate,” following a New York Times report that aides to the Democratic Senate candidate, Mary Peltola, recruited him to run.
What the prosecutor said
U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told a press conference on Friday that the Times article had driven a “surge” of FBI resources into the case, adding that he had assigned several prosecutors and that investigative steps were taking place “intensely and swiftly.”
Heyman declined to say what crime may have been committed. No charges have been announced in the matter. The department has, however, already filed a civil action, and on Friday it filed further motions seeking to block Alaska from certifying the Senate results if the Republican incumbent loses a close race on a ballot that includes Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.
President Donald Trump has said he instigated the civil lawsuit, according to Reuters, which reported the developments on Saturday.
What Peltola and the teacher said
Peltola has denied knowing about any effort to recruit the second Sullivan, and the retired teacher has denied coordinating with her campaign. Neither denial settles the factual questions at the heart of the investigation, but both are on the record, and the inquiry’s outcome will turn on evidence about who did what, not on the labels used in press conferences. The Alaska race is seen as crucial for Democrats if they hope to take control of the Senate from Trump’s Republicans, and a close result there could be fought over in court long after the votes are counted.
The stakes on Tuesday
Voters will decide 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, November 3.
Early voting has already set a record. More than 49 million Americans had cast ballots, in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, up from nearly 46 million who voted before Election Day in the 2022 midterms.
A wider pattern of legal fights
The Alaska case is not the only election fight the administration has joined. It has sued California seeking to prevent the counting of ballots cast by more than 20,000 registered voters it alleged could be noncitizens, a bid a federal judge blocked earlier in the week. It has also sued roughly 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking unredacted voter rolls.
On Friday, a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening to prosecute California election officials who do not comply with the administration’s directives on alleged voting by noncitizens.
Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the administration’s actions parallel tactics used by election deniers after the 2020 presidential election, and could create a political atmosphere that leads to official misconduct.
What voters say about trust
Even so, most voters say they trust the process. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted September 30 to October 5 found 76 percent of voters confident their ballots will be counted accurately, with about 15 percent not confident.
What to watch next
Trump is not scheduled to travel on Saturday, but he returns to the campaign trail on Sunday in Kansas and Iowa. In Alaska, the questions to watch are whether the criminal investigation produces charges, how a court rules on the certification bid, and whether the margin on Tuesday is close enough for either to matter.
| Election Day | Tuesday, November 3 |
| Senate seats at stake | 35 of 100 |
| House seats at stake | All 435 |
| Early votes already cast | More than 49 million, a midterm record |
| Voters confident ballots will be counted accurately | 76 percent (Reuters/Ipsos, Sept. 30–Oct. 5) |
Sources: Reuters, October 31, 2026; New York Times reporting as cited by Reuters; University of Florida Election Lab; Reuters/Ipsos poll, September 30–October 5, 2026; Brennan Center for Justice.
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