Lisa Murkowski Blasted The DOJ Over An Alaska Ballot Lawsuit — Trump's Late-Night Reply Held Nothing Back

According to Mediaite, the clash centers on a DOJ complaint, filed at the president’s direction, seeking to block certification of the Alaska Senate election if republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses under the state’s ranked choice system. GOP strategists worry that incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan could see crucial votes siphoned away by another candidate on the ballot with the same name, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a scenario that could hand the race to Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK).

Alaska’s ranked choice voting framework, imposed in recent years and widely criticized by conservatives, drew particular ire from President Trump, who branded it a “TOTAL DEMOCRAT SCAM” in a late-night Truth Social post. He argued that the system is tailor-made to confuse voters and fracture the republican vote in a way that benefits Democrats.

“The republicans’ Worst Senator, by far, Lisa Murkowski, of the Great State of Alaska (A State for which I produced, on a continuing basis, Billions and Billions of Dollars, and which Crooked Joe Biden and the Dumocrats had totally shut down — Then I came back, and delivered even more!), who only got elected because of Corrupt Ranked Choice Voting, is upset because I revealed what everyone knows, that the Ranked Choice Voting Ballot is a TOTAL DEMOCRAT SCAM meant to confuse the Voter, so that Senator Dan Sullivan will lose Votes to a man who has never participated in Politics before, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr,” Trump wrote. “He is only there because the Democrats want to steal the Election, and Murkowski probably wants that to happen, which is why she is against the DOJ filing a Lawsuit in order to stop this impending crime and tragedy. I have delivered for Alaska at Historic Levels, nobody has ever seen anything like it, and all I’m asking for is a FAIR AND HONEST SENATORIAL ELECTION!”

Murkowski, long at odds with the conservative base and repeatedly rescued by Alaska’s unusual election rules, publicly rebuked the DOJ’s intervention. In a post on X, she insisted that federal authorities should steer clear of the state’s internal electoral disputes and defended the integrity of Alaska’s ballot design.

“Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot,” Murkowski said. “The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.”

President Trump’s Saturday night response made clear he was unmoved by Murkowski’s objections and views her stance as aligning with Democrat efforts to secure another Senate vote for the left. He framed the fight as part of a broader struggle to protect Alaska from what he portrays as election manipulation disguised as reform.

“Lisa Murkowski is a DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country,” Trump wrote. “You just don’t get any worse! I hope the Great People of Alaska understand what is happening. The Democrats are trying to steal this important republican Seat and, if that happens, everything we’ve done for Alaska will come to an immediate hault (sic). VOTE “YES” AGAINST RANKED CHOICE VOTING, on Ballot Measure 2. SAVE ALASKA!”

republican anxiety has been amplified by polling that shows Peltola holding a slim advantage, a warning sign in a state that should lean solidly red. With two Dan Sullivans on the ballot and a voting system conservatives regard as engineered to fracture their coalition, the race has become a test case for whether President Trump’s DOJ and grassroots pressure can overcome a structure many on the right see as deliberately tilted toward Democrats.