With control of Congress hanging in the balance heading into the midterms’ final weekend, the Trump administration escalated two high-stakes battles at once — pressing a criminal probe tied to Alaska’s pivotal US Senate race and signaling it could take its fight over thousands of California postal ballots to the Supreme Court.
In Alaska, federal prosecutors are examining whether aides to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola helped recruit a retired schoolteacher, Daniel J Sullivan Jr, to enter the race because his name resembles that of the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan S Sullivan.
The outcome in Alaska is closely watched, viewed as central to Democrats’ hopes of capturing the Senate in Tuesday’s election.
Voters will decide the fate of 35 Senate contests and all 435 House seats — results that will determine whether President Donald Trump’s Republicans retain control of Congress during his final two years in office.
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 edge in the Senate and maintain a slim advantage in the House.
Voting has already surged past previous levels. More than 51 million Americans have cast ballots in person or by mail, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, surpassing the nearly 46 million who voted before election day at the 2022 midterms.
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Anchorage, Alaska
In California, a federal appeals court ruled 2-1 this week that the Justice Department had not justified its emergency attempt to force the state to set aside postal ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters the administration alleges are likely non citizens.
“I hesitate to give a final answer, but I think probably the Supreme Court’s next on this one,” acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told Fox News yesterday, saying any bid for Supreme Court review would come before Tuesday’s election.
Newsom asks US judges to resist Trump attempts to seize ballots
California Governor Gavin Newsom urged federal courts to be prepared for possible moves by the Trump administration to seize ballots.
In a separate matter, a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening to prosecute California state and local election officials who decline to comply with the administration’s election-related demands.
“Given the United States Department of Justice’s persistence in advancing this baseless theory of criminal liability, I have grave concerns federal agents will seek search warrants to seize ballots and ballot materials before the election results are certified,” Mr Newsom wrote in a letter to federal judges.
He argued that the only purpose for deploying search warrants would be to disrupt California’s “lawful counting of ballots and certifying the results of the election.”
Early voting for the midterms has broken records
Mr Trump has crisscrossed multiple states in a month-long push for Republican candidates, but spent yesterday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. He is scheduled to return to the trail today with stops in Kansas and Iowa.
Alaska probe intensifies
US Attorney Michael Heyman, the Justice Department’s top prosecutor in Alaska, said at a Friday press conference that a recent New York Times report describing an effort to recruit Daniel J Sullivan Jr had triggered a “surge” of FBI resources for the investigation.
Mr Heyman said several prosecutors had been assigned and that investigative actions were moving “intensely and swiftly.”
Ms Peltola and the campaign committee have denied involvement in any effort to recruit the second Sullivan. The retired teacher has also denied coordinating with Ms Peltola’s campaign.
Many Alaska voters, meanwhile, have brushed aside the ballot controversy.
“I knew which Dan Sullivan was which Dan Sullivan, you know? It’s very clear on the ballot,” one Anchorage resident said outside a polling place yesterday.
Another Anchorage voter said she was disheartened by the episode and worried it could “muddies the water for some voters, potentially.”
Michigan rift
In Michigan — another marquee Senate contest — Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is running against Republican Mike Rogers, and tensions resurfaced between Mr El-Sayed and the primary opponent he defeated, US Representative Haley Stevens.
Mr El-Sayed’s campaign asked Mr Stevens to stay away from his events until election day to avoid “not to distract from the central issues of the campaign,” according to a person familiar with the request.
76% of US voters are confident their ballots will be counted accurately, according to a recent poll
Although Mr Stevens has endorsed Mr El-Sayed, she has insisted he denounce an outside group’s advertisement blaming Israel for high grocery prices and apologise for earlier rhetoric about Israel.
“It’s certainly unhelpful to the El-Sayed campaign to have continued visible division within the party just before election day,” said Matt Grossmann, a political scientist at Michigan State University. He noted that polls indicate Mr El-Sayed has largely unified Democratic support.
Beyond the California case involving more than 20,000 postal ballots, the Trump administration has filed lawsuits against roughly 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking unredacted voter rolls.
Those legal actions have rattled election administrators, who point out that the Constitution gives states primary authority over how elections are conducted.
Even so, confidence in the vote remains relatively strong overall. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from 30 September to 5 October found 76% of US voters believe their ballots will be counted accurately, with confidence running at about the same level among Republicans and Democrats.
