Try and Stop Us Digest — October 26, 2026

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Trump Is Trying To Steal Alaska's Senate Seat, And Attorney General Todd Blanche Is Helping Him

Trump's DOJ is trying to block Alaska from certifying its Senate race if Republican Dan Sullivan loses. . CNN / Associated Press / NBC News / The Hill: The Trump Justice Department sued late Thursday to block Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate results if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses. The suit says the result shouldn't be certified if Sullivan would have won had every vote for a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, gone to him instead. Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola's campaign and the DSCC have moved to dismiss, calling the suit "an unprecedented pre-emptive strike on democratic elections." Peltola calls it "a very desperate attempt to cling to power."

Trump admits he ordered the Alaska suit himself and says voters can't tell who the incumbent is. Associated Press / Washington Examiner / Politico / Newsweek: Trump told reporters in Florida on Friday, "I'm the one that said do it." On Sunday he said Alaska voters should see "Sen. Dan Sullivan" on the ballot "because a lot of people don't know what incumbent means." The ballot already labels Sullivan "incumbent" and "Registered Republican," while the second Sullivan has no party listed. Trump says that the second Dan Sullivan "wasn't even a voter," but he is a registered Republican. On Saturday, Trump accused Democrats of wanting to "steal the Election" and attacked Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who said DOJ "should never have filed this lawsuit," as the "Republicans' Worst Senator, by far."

Attorney General Todd Blanche is acting like Trump’s henchman, using the Justice Department to try to take Alaska’s Senate seat from the voters. . Democracy Docket / The Hill / Politico / Associated Press / Democracy Docket: Attorney General Todd Blanche is carrying out Trump’s push to stop Alaska from certifying its Senate race if Sen. Sullivan loses. Blanche has declared, “I work for President Trump,” and he calls the idea that DOJ is independent of the White House a “misperception.” Trump says he ordered the Alaska suit, but Blanche refuses to say whether Trump directed it. Blanche insists the suit isn’t about certification, yet it asks a judge to bar Alaska from certifying its results “pending an investigation,” and when CBS host Margaret Brennan quoted the complaint to him, he said, “That’s not what it says.” Asked on CNN on Sunday what crime Alaska election officials committed, he said “It depends” and “There could be a crime,” and he would not say what it is, though Alaska’s Supreme Court ruled in June that both Sullivans can stay on the ballot. On Oct. 22, he wouldn’t rule out interfering with certification: “to say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that, of course I’m not going to say that.”

Legal experts across the spectrum call Trump's Alaska suit garbage, and no Republican election official will defend it. Politico / New York Times / Slate / Democracy Docket / Politico: Election law experts on the left, right and in between say DOJ’s Alaska lawsuit has no legal basis, and the Alaska Supreme Court already rejected an identical challenge in June. NYU law professor Richard Pildes calls it “one of the weakest election lawsuits I’ve ever seen” that “should have no realistic chance of success in the courts,” and Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller calls it “press-release litigation.” Cato’s Walter Olson, a libertarian, says it is “abusive in intent and nearly frivolous in argument,” and Ben Ginsberg, a veteran Republican election lawyer, says it has “zero basis in the law.” Stan Brand, who represented top Trump allies in Jan. 6 proceedings, calls it “a political document” and one of the “ploys to try to confuse people.” UCLA law professor Rick Hasen calls it “the worst complaint I’ve ever seen,” and says it may be a “place-holder lawsuit or zombie lawsuit” meant to come back to life if Sullivan loses narrowly. DOJ’s own manual says the department “should generally avoid interfering or appearing to interfere with election administration, tabulation, validation, or certification

Trump's DOJ Is Trying To Keep California From Counting Its Votes

DOJ gave California counties 48 hours to quarantine ballots from 20,000 voters, and some of its lists were flat wrong. New York Times / Associated Press / San Francisco Chronicle: The Justice Department sent letters Friday demanding that California election officials help identify suspected noncitizens among 20,000 voters and set aside their mail ballots, with 48 hours to respond. Mendocino County's clerk-recorder, Katrina Bartolomie, says the list she got wasn't her voters: "It's from another county." Inyo County's registrar says neither of the two people on her list was issued a ballot, and her records show they never voted anywhere in California. Napa County's registrar says two uniformed DHS officers delivered his letter and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan called the letters a "posture of intimidation.” The ttop federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, warned that any election official who counts a noncitizen's ballot is "opening themselves to legal jeopardy." Contra Costa County's clerk-recorder, Kristin Connelly, expects the claims to "fall apart like we saw recently in Nevada," where Trump claimed 1,500 noncitizen voters and the actual number was zero.

Judges, including a Trump appointee, seem skeptical of DOJ’s bid to stop California from counting 20,000 mail ballots. CNN / NBC News / Slate / Associated Press / Democracy Docket: A three-judge 9th Circuit panel expressed significant skepticism Sunday about DOJ’s demand that California set aside mail ballots from suspected noncitizens. Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, said “under the Elections Clause, they have the right to determine the manner of the elections, including sorting out noncitizens.” Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee, told DOJ’s lawyer, “Your claims very much depend on the reliability of that list.” DOJ’s lawyer offered little clarity on where the 20,000 names came from, saying the administration “was supplied a list that was purchased.” California’s lawyer said DOJ is asking the court “to short-circuit the democratic process” after the state has already processed more than 300,000 ballots. Bennett and Sanchez also questioned why DOJ went to the appeals court Thursday before Judge David Carter had even ruled. UCLA law professor Rick Hasen calls it “a Hail Mary procedural play in a Hail Mary substantive case.” Judge Carter’s hearing is set for Tuesday, and DOJ is not done: Blanche said Oct. 22, “There’s a number of states that we’re looking at.”

DOJ's California crackdown mostly hit immigrants trying to become citizens, and only six are charged with actually voting. Associated Press / Democracy Docket: Most of the immigrants targeted in California had applied for citizenship and now face charges for lying on forms or in interviews. Only six of the 28 are charged with voting as a noncitizen, a misdemeanor. Lying charges carry up to a decade in prison, versus up to a year for illegally voting. José Antonio Bañuelos-Díaz, a legal permanent resident for 40 years, was arrested outside his Los Angeles home, and the government hasn't accused him of casting a ballot. "I have never voted because I know I can't vote," he says. Amandeep Kaur's husband says they both thought the ballot she returned was a registration form, and now his wife is distraught: "All she does is cry. It's heartbreaking."

Trump's DOJ Is Building The Case To Contest The Midterms

Trump is laying the groundwork to dispute the midterms, and he's lying to do it. New York Times / New York Times / Democracy Docket / Slate / Politico: Trump's attacks on voting are hardening into what many election officials and Democrats fear is an attempt to challenge the midterm results. A Times fact-check finds he has "seldom let a day go by" without repeating lies about elections, some of which act as "a prelude" to his administration's moves. At a rally in Arizona, he said, "The damn machines were broken in Republican areas," repeating his lie that the election was stolen from him. This month he met in the Oval Office with election deniers, including Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk convicted of tampering with voting machines. At a rally in Alaska, he called ranked-choice voting a "way to cheat," though Alaska used it to elect a Republican senator and governor in 2022 and to choose Trump in 2024. Republican Gabriel Sterling, a former senior Georgia elections official, says the Alaska suit is part of "an attempt to lay a foundation to say, 'If we had won these lawsuits, we would have won the election.'"

Trump demands, and Blanche's DOJ obeys, investigating Democrats and filing suits to block ballot counting. New York Times / Axios / Democracy Docket: Trump demanded the Alaska lawsuit even as some Justice Department officials raised concerns about its merits and constitutionality, according to two people with knowledge. The White House has found "two particularly cooperative partners" in Blanche's top two deputies, Trent McCotter and Stanley Woodward Jr., who signed the California and Alaska suits. Former officials say Woodward's name on a filing at times means his subordinates were unwilling to sign it themselves. Blanche has also abandoned departmental norms by promoting prosecutions and investigations of politicians within 60 days of the election. Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's home on Oct. 12, 22 days before Election Day, and DOJ has not explained the timing. Prosecutors then indicted Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, a key figure in Democrats' redistricting effort there, and Blanche dismissed DOJ's unwritten convention of caution before elections. "The department is taking commands from the president and throwing spaghetti at the wall to file meritless lawsuits," says Vanita Gupta, a top Justice Department official under Biden.

Armed agents are knocking on voters' doors, and Trump says election officials who count unlawful ballots will go to jail. Democracy Docket: Armed Homeland Security agents are going door to door in multiple states, asking people whether they registered and whether they have voted before. On the first day of early voting in Texas, U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz told voters and election administrators: "If you violate federal election law, I will hunt you down and prosecute you." Trump said officials who count unlawful ballots would "all go to jail for a long period of time!!!" DOJ plans to send roughly 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states, about three times as many as in the last midterm.

Democrats And The Courts Are Fighting Back

Democrats asked a judge to fast-track their suit against Trump's intimidation of voters and election officials. Democracy Docket: The DSCC and other Democratic groups sued Trump, Blanche, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and both departments Oct. 20 over efforts to intimidate election officials and lawful voters, "particularly naturalized citizens." On Friday they asked Judge James Boasberg for expedited discovery of communications in which the administration demands that officials remove voters from the rolls, refuse ballots or not count them. They say they are "seriously contemplating a request for emergency relief." The administration has not responded to the complaint.

A Trump-appointed judge handed DOJ its 27th straight loss, and the courts keep blocking the rest. Democracy Docket / Democracy Docket / The New Yorker: Judge David Barlow dismissed DOJ's voter-roll suit against Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican, with prejudice Friday. "An ordinary English speaker would not say that she has come into possession of something that she created, established, and maintained," he wrote. DOJ is now 0-27 in district court on voter rolls. On Oct. 21, another judge restricted Homeland Security's election field operations in nine states when officials know, suspect or reasonably should suspect the targets are citizens. Former Justice Department voting lawyer David Becker says of the administration's efforts: "They don't have a single success."

State election officials, Republicans included, are the backstop against Trump's takeover. The New Yorker / Politico: If one thing has been decisive in safeguarding the nation's electoral machinery, Barton Gellman writes, "it is the tenacity of state officials who willingly accepted the political, financial, and personal risks of defying the President." Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who was told in September she is "currently under investigation," has posted a running tally of DOJ's losses and says, "we also have threats coming from within our own government." Arizona's Adrian Fontes calls DOJ's threats of prosecution "Garbage—I'm not breaking the laws." Washington Attorney General Nick Brown says the Alaska suit is "part of a concerted effort to control the election," and that the fear Trump will contest the midterm results "is not hypothetical."

Voters Reject Trump's Election Meddling And Fear Republicans Will Try To Overturn The Midterms

Voters trust the count, but half fear Republicans will try to overturn it. New York Times: Half of likely voters say they are worried Republicans might try to overturn the midterm results through illegal means, while only 31% say they are worried Democrats might, a New York Times/Siena poll finds. Eighty-six percent of Democrats and just over half of independents share the concern about Republicans. Still, 74% of voters trust that the results will be accurate, though the 23% who don't is up from 17% in 2024. A majority are now more worried that eligible voters won't get to vote than about voter fraud, a reversal since 2024. More than three-quarters say American democracy is under threat.

Voters overwhelmingly reject Trump's election meddling.. Democracy Docket: A poll from If You Can Keep It and YouGov finds overwhelming majorities of voters disapprove of every election tactic it tested. Seventy-five percent of voters, including 62% of Republicans, oppose officials seizing ballots, voting machines or election records before counting and certification are complete. Seventy percent, including 56% of Republicans, oppose the federal government opening criminal investigations into state or local officials to pressure them into changing election rules. A majority, 56%, believe Trump wants to extend his influence over state election rules to "ensure Republicans win elections, regardless of whether they are free and fair." Fifty-six percent also oppose ICE agents or other armed federal officials near polling places, though only 24% of Republicans do.

Six in 10 voters call Trump's attempts to influence the election a major problem. AP-NORC: About 6 in 10 voters say the president attempting to influence election outcomes is a major problem in U.S. elections, an AP-NORC poll finds. That is the same share who say foreign governments attempting to influence election results are a major problem. More than half also call state laws that make it harder to vote or register, and valid mail ballots being rejected, major problems. Only 17% are extremely or very confident the Supreme Court will handle midterm election cases fairly, down from 24% in October 2024.

In The States

ALASKA — Early voting sites failed to open in at least 18 remote Alaska villages, after the governor vetoed a bill meant to help rural voters. Anchorage Daily News: Early turnout is lowest in the four districts where Alaska Native people make up a majority, according to state data. In the Arctic district, only 27 ballots were cast in the first three days of early voting, just 0.3% of registered voters, while the Juneau district cast nearly 1,400, more than 9% of eligible voters. A letter from Democratic state Sen. Bill Wielechowski says early in-person voting locations failed to open in at least 18 villages: "To say the division's failures are shocking would be a profound understatement." Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bipartisan election reform bill earlier this year that would have required the Division of Elections to hire a rural liaison. The Division of Elections did not respond to questions about early voting problems.

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina's new GOP-backed ballot envelope rule is driving mail ballot rejections in the state's largest county. Democracy Docket: Wake County, home to Raleigh and a Democratic stronghold, has rejected 277 of 7,629 mail ballots, a 3.5% rejection rate, compared with 2.2% statewide in 2022. One hundred forty-seven of those rejections, over half, were because the inner envelope was unsealed, under a rule passed by the GOP-controlled state elections board. Across 27 counties tracked by Common Cause North Carolina, the rejection rate has spiked to 4.22%, nearly double the 2022 statewide rate. "We've had voters who we've had to mail them four or five different ballots just because they keep mailing it back with some type of deficiency," says Wake County Deputy Director Spencer Berg. So far, only 53 Wake voters whose ballots were spoiled have returned a replacement or voted in person.

PENNSYLVANIA — DOJ has now charged 20 Pennsylvanians with noncitizen voting since September, and the nine newest cases amount to 0.00009% of the votes cast in those elections. Pennsylvania Capital-Star: The Justice Department charged nine more Pennsylvania residents Friday with voting as a noncitizen. The charges have not been proven, and there is no evidence the cases are related or that fraud is widespread or coordinated. A Votebeat and Spotlight PA analysis finds just 176 allegedly fraudulent ballots out of more than 67 million cast since mid-2015, even counting these charges. The attorney for Artur Kopacz, 50, says he passed the citizenship test twice and voted while waiting to become a citizen because he believed he was eligible. DHS claimed in July that 14,576 potential noncitizens are registered in Pennsylvania but still has not shared the list with the state.

TEXAS — Sen. Alex Padilla is demanding answers from the Texas U.S. attorney who threatened voters, including how closely he is working with Ken Paxton. Democracy Docket: Padilla sent U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz a letter Friday saying his threat to voters and local officials raised questions about "potential federal election interference by your office." Padilla cites DOJ's election non-interference policy and says Reitz's "unusual statement" "appears to conflict with Department guidelines for prosecutors' behavior during an active federal election." He asks Reitz for evidence supporting his reference to "crooked" local election administrators and for documentation of his coordination with Paxton's office, where Reitz used to work, while Paxton runs in a highly competitive Senate race. Padilla wants answers by Oct. 30.