DOJ Drops Subpoenas on Alaska Senate Race Just Days Before Midterms as Trump Questions "Honest" Elections

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued subpoenas in the Alaska Senate race over a controversy involving candidates who share the same name, just days before the November 3 midterm elections [274406]. The move comes as President Donald Trump said he will accept the results of the midterms only if they are "honest," raising doubts about the vote one week before Election Day [272400].

The Alaska controversy centers on Republican incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan and independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., whose very similar names appear on the ballot [272400]. Trump has filed a legal demand to block official certification of the election results if the Republican senator loses by a narrow margin [272400]. The DOJ subpoenas follow that dispute [274406].

Trump's comments and legal moves are part of a broader campaign to cast doubt on the electoral system. He has refused to acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 presidential election for six years, and his false claims about that vote led his supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021 [272400]. He has tried to limit mail-in voting through an executive order that the Supreme Court has temporarily suspended, and through a bill called the Save America Act that makes voting harder and is stalled in the Senate [272400].

A court recently rejected a Republican challenge to 20,000 voters in California, where more than 20 million people are registered to vote [272400]. A federal judge will also rule on a DOJ lawsuit that seeks to force California to set aside mail ballots cast by people suspected of being noncitizens; California officials have denounced the lawsuit as a political stunt intended to cast doubt on their election process [273180].

The midterms are widely seen as a direct verdict on Trump's second term and a chance for voters to say whether he has kept his promises [274042]. Six days before the election, Trump's approval rating had fallen to 32 percent, and Democrats led in the polls, with the costs of the war with Iran and the rising cost of living pressing hard on the government [274226].

Voters will also decide more than 140 statewide ballot measures covering issues including taxes on billionaires, transgender rights, and voter access, letting citizens vote directly on policy and bypassing state legislatures [274378][274108].