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By Emma Marsden
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President Donald Trump has escalated his criticism of Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski as a high-stakes Alaska Senate race intensifies, branding the longtime senator one of the worst members of the chamber amid a widening dispute over the state’s election system.
In a Truth Social attack on Murkowski, Trump called ranked-choice voting a “TOTAL DEMOCRAT SCAM meant to confuse the Voter” and accused Murkowski of opposing the Justice Department’s lawsuit because she wanted Democrats to win.
“The Republicans’ Worst Senator, by far, Lisa Murkowski, of the Great State of Alaska,” Trump wrote, before describing her as a “DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country.”
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Trump claimed Murkowski had benefited from the voting system in a previous election, writing in his second post: “Everyone thought she came in second or third, but then she ‘won.’ Miracles happen!”
via Truth Social
The posts come as the president backs Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in his reelection bid against Democrat Mary Peltola. Trump also alleged, without providing evidence in the posts, that Democrats were trying to steal Sullivan’s seat by diverting votes to Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher and former Forest Service employee running as a Republican.
Trump urged Alaskans to vote “YES” on Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal ranked-choice voting, and claimed his administration had delivered billions of dollars in benefits to the state.
The dispute has taken on a national dimension after the Trump administration filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election results under certain circumstances. The legal challenge has raised questions about federal intervention in state-run elections, with control of the Senate potentially at stake.
Newsweek contacted Murkowski's office via email and the White House via online form on Sunday for comment.
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What is Ranked-Choice Voting?
As previously detailed by Newsweek, rather than the traditional way voting takes place elsewhere in the U.S., with voters marking the one candidate they want to elect, ranked-choice voting (RCV) allows voters to rate all candidates from first to last choice, funneling those results into a two-person race which then leads to a final result.
For example, if Peltola won 45 percent of the vote, Sullivan 40 percent and the two other candidates on the ballot 10 and 5 percent, respectively, no one candidate has over 50 percent, or a majority.
The lowest-ranked candidate would be eliminated. The ballots that ranked that candidate first would then have their second choices split among the respective candidates, and so on until either Peltola or Sullivan pass the threshold.
Justice Department Lawsuit Targets Alaska Election
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt certification of Alaska’s Senate election results if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan does not win.
The federal lawsuit centers on the presence of two Republican candidates with similar names on the ballot and whether votes cast for the retired teacher — whom the administration characterizes as a “decoy” — could have affected the outcome under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system if those votes had instead gone to the Trump-backed incumbent. The administration argues that the situation could confuse voters and affect the outcome of the contest against Peltola.
Trump has acknowledged directing the DOJ to pursue the case, telling reporters: "I'm the one that said 'do it,'" as he arrived in Florida Friday afternoon.
The lawsuit has drawn criticism from voting-rights experts, who have questioned the administration’s legal arguments and the practicality of determining voters’ intentions after ballots have been cast. The secret ballot makes it difficult to establish whether a vote for Daniel J. Sullivan was intended for the incumbent.
“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,” said Murkowski on X Friday. “The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit."
In a statement on X, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the lawsuit, saying the Justice Department was not seeking to prevent ballots from being cast or stop Alaska from certifying its election. Instead, he said, the litigation was intended to ensure ballots were preserved so state officials could determine whether voters had been confused or misled by the candidates’ similar names.
Blanche also said Justice Department attorneys drafted the lawsuit based solely on federal law, without coordinating with any campaign or candidate.
The legal challenge has added another layer of controversy to a contest that could help determine control of the Senate.
Polls Show Competitive Race Between Sullivan and Peltola
Recent polling suggests a close contest between Sullivan and Peltola. An InsiderAdvantage poll puts Peltola ahead of Sullivan, 50 prcent to 48 percent, in Alaska’s ranked-choice Senate race.
Meanwhile, Data for Progress polling shows Peltola leading Sullivan 51 percent to 49 percent in a simulated final round of ranked-choice voting. The survey also found Sullivan’s net favorability had fallen to −10, with 44 percent of Alaska voters viewing him favorably and 54 percent unfavorably. That marks his lowest net favorability in the organisation’s six Alaska surveys since February 2024, when his ratings were positive.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson and Trevor Davies
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