JD Vance’s Alaska Lawsuit Defense Is About Saving the GOP’s Congressional Majority, Not Confused Voters

There is something particularly insulting about Vice President JD Vance standing before the American people and suggesting that Alaskans might be too busy, too distracted or too easily confused to figure out which Dan Sullivan they want representing them in the U.S. Senate.

But that is essentially what Vance did Tuesday when he defended the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan loses. The Justice Department claims another candidate, Dan J. Sullivan Jr., could confuse voters and siphon votes away from the incumbent. Asked whether that argument insulted Alaskans, Vance acknowledged that many voters would recognize the difference before insisting that some might still be confused, Mediaite reports.

Well, which is it, sir?

The incumbent’s name will appear on the ballot with his Republican affiliation and the word “incumbent.” The other Dan Sullivan is running without a party designation. And Alaska’s Supreme Court has already ruled that the challenger can remain on the ballot.

This isn’t a case of someone accidentally wandering into the wrong voting booth and casting a ballot for the wrong Sullivan. The administration is asking a federal court to intervene before the election results are even known, potentially preventing Alaska from certifying the outcome if the incumbent loses under circumstances the government considers suspicious.

And that is where this story becomes much bigger than two men sharing a name. Republicans are fighting to keep control of Congress, and they know how much is riding on every seat.

With the November 3 midterms just days away, Republicans hold slim majorities in both the House and the Senate. Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to take the House and four to take the Senate. The Alaska race is among the contests that could determine who controls Congress and therefore the limits on Trump’s reign of terror.

The GOP knows voters don’t have to be confused by a ballot to reject an incumbent. They can recognize Dan S. Sullivan perfectly well and decide they want somebody else. Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, is challenging him in a competitive race. If Alaskans decide Sullivan has had his turn, that is their decision to make.

The lawsuit’s premise is that votes cast for the other Sullivan might have changed the outcome. But how, exactly, does the government determine what voters intended when their ballots are secret? And why should a potential theory about voter confusion give Washington the power to interfere with a state’s election certification?

These are not minor questions. They go to the heart of whether elections are decided by voters or by whichever party has the power to challenge an outcome it doesn’t like.

This is every bit the boy with the football sets the rules, or else he takes his ball and goes home. This is the Trump administration doing everything they can to try and retain power. Their wildly panned administration is struggling to hold onto their slight lead and they will stop at nothing to maintain control.  

And Alaska isn’t operating in isolation. The Republican National Committee is involved in roughly 200 election-related legal battles nationwide, while the Trump administration has sued states for access to sensitive voter registration data. The party calls these efforts election integrity. Critics see a coordinated push to reshape the rules and gain greater leverage over elections.

This administration only cares about voters’ rights when it’s clear that the votes are going against them. This whole threat of certification only if its preferred candidate loses begs the question: Whose votes are being protected, and whose are being treated as a problem?

The point is not that every Republican election lawsuit has the same purpose or that every challenge is illegitimate. It is that the Alaska case arrives amid an aggressive national effort to influence the rules governing elections at a moment when Republicans have a whole lot to lose.

Vance can wrap the argument in concern for busy voters. Trump can call the situation cheating. The Justice Department can invoke election integrity. But none of that changes the fundamental problem: The government should not get to decide that an election is too confusing to count simply because the result might cost Republicans a Senate seat.

If Republicans want to keep Congress, they should’ve governed better. If Dan Sullivan loses, he loses. That is what elections are for.

Apparently, the administration believes democracy is perfectly acceptable — right up until the voters threaten to change who’s in charge.

SEE ALSO:

Supreme Court Allows New Hampshire To Ban Student IDs At Polls

Mystery ‘News’ Site Is Helping Vivek Ramaswamy Push Nasty Attack Ad