Why does Trump want the exclusion of a Democratic candidate from the US Senate elections. The "Sullivan" controversy

The American President Donald Trump has requested the disqualification from the elections of Democrat Mary Peltola, who is running for a Senate seat in Alaska, following revelations from The New York Times (NYT), according to which her campaign caused a man with the same name as the Republican senator in office, Dan Sullivan, to run for office to dilute the votes of Republicans. In this Arctic state—traditionally conservative—polls give a slight advance to the Democratic candidate Mary Peltola in the mid-term elections on Tuesday. According to the NYT, the campaign of this former Native American judge conducted research on the 2025 voter rolls to find a person with the same name as the sitting senator Dan Sullivan. The operation was successful, and this other Dan Sullivan, a retired professor who lives in a fishing town, ran in line with discussions with a Democrat consultant. The Democratic Senate campaign organization—DSCC—was involved in these efforts to dilute the support of the Republican senator, according to the American newspaper, as reported by AFP, picked up by News.ro. However, Mary Peltola's campaign and DSCC denied any involvement to the NYT. The newspaper emphasizes that these revelations do not necessarily imply an illegal act. But the Republican president, in another view, has cataloged the Democratic efforts as "illegal." "Mary Peltola should bear the legal and political consequences for what she has done, a FRAUD AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE," Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network on Wednesday. "She should not be authorized to run, nor should the FALSE Dan Sullivan," he wrote in a second message. Donald Trump asked on Wednesday evening, in front of the press, for a lawsuit to be filed against Mary Peltola and the retiree. What the "real" Dan Sullivan says The sitting Senator Dan Sullivan later stated in an interview with Fox News that the Democrat "set up a strategy over a year to deceive the residents of Alaska, which demonstrates total disdain" for them. The NYT revelations come in part from Elisa Rios, a former campaign employee of Mary Peltola, who was fired in August along with other members of the campaign. She stated that Mary Peltola was not directly involved in these efforts, but was aware of them. Before publishing the article, Elisa Rios stated that she wanted to withdraw the statements made by the NYT, which the newspaper nonetheless decided to publish. The newspaper writes that it is based on interviews with several people, messages, and documents that support this journalistic investigation. The Supreme Court of Alaska ruled in June that the retiree Dan Sullivan can remain in office. However, the Department of Justice hired last week—at the express request of Donald Trump—a preventive appeal to a federal court in Alaska, in the case of the Democrat, which asks to prohibit "certifying any results that may be affected by voter confusion" regarding the two Dan Sullivans. This appeal is not without merit, according to an expert in electoral law and professor at the University of Notre Dame, Derek Muller. Editor: B.P.