{"id":50849,"date":"2026-07-02T11:53:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=50849"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:53:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:53:31","slug":"the-many-ways-trump-is-trying-to-tip-the-scales-for-the-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=50849","title":{"rendered":"The Many Ways Trump Is Trying to Tip the Scales for the Midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

President Trump is trying to use the levers of the federal government, along with personal influence over state and local lawmakers, to reshape the rules governing the 2026 midterms and future elections in extraordinary ways.<\/p>\n

Many of these efforts have been blocked by courts, stymied by the Constitution or stopped in Congress. But the relentless assault by the president on the electoral process \u2014 both administratively and rhetorically \u2014 is likely to sow doubt and lay groundwork for extensive challenges to election results.<\/p>\n

Agencies and officials across the federal government have, at the direction of Mr. Trump, undertaken dozens of actions grounded in novel strategies and aimed at insulating Republicans from potential losses in November. Those actions fall into six major categories (and some fall into more than one).<\/p>\n

Taking steps to nationalize elections<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The United States Constitution puts control over elections in the hands of the states and grants Congress the ability to pass federal election legislation. It gives no explicit authority to the executive branch.<\/p>\n

But in early February, Mr. Trump said he wanted the Republican-led federal government to \u201cnationalize\u201d or \u201ctake over\u201d the running of elections. \u201cA state is an agent for the federal government in elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump had already, in March 2025, signed an executive order seeking broad authority over elections. The order required documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and mandated the return of mail ballots by Election Day. Those were almost universally blocked by courts, which found that the order clearly violated the separation of powers and exceeded the president\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

But another provision, which instructed the U.S. attorney general to hunt for and prosecute election crimes, has been used to justify sprawling efforts by the Justice Department related to elections.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department began demanding the complete voter files \u2014 state databases of registered voters that include sensitive personal identifying information \u2014 from every state as it worked to compile the largest set of national voter roll data it has ever collected.<\/p>\n

More than half the states \u2014 many under Democratic control but some run by Republicans, too \u2014 have resisted this effort. In response, the Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and territories, seeking to force them to turn over their unredacted voter rolls. At least 16 states have provided or indicated an intention to turn over their lists, according to tracking from the Brennan Center for Justice.<\/p>\n

Election workers sorting mail-in ballots in Phoenix during the presidential primary election in March 2024.<\/span> Rebecca Noble for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n

In January, Pam Bondi, then the attorney general, requested that Minnesota turn over its voter rolls to \u201cbring back law and order\u201d amid protests against the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown. Minnesota officials dismissed the request as \u201coutrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Justice Department has yet to win a single lawsuit \u2014 it has lost at least 10 so far, as well as one federal appeal \u2014 election officials and Democrats fear the battle over voting records may be used in a post-election effort to challenge, discredit or spread disinformation about midterm results.<\/p>\n

Acting on the same executive order, the Department of Homeland Security has been combing voter rolls for noncitizens who have voted. It has not found evidence of widespread fraud, and a federal judge barred the administration from letting states use a federal citizenship data tool to screen their voter rolls.<\/p>\n

In March 2026, Mr. Trump signed a second executive order regarding voting policy, this time seeking to create state-by-state lists of citizens that would be used to determine voting eligibility and restrict the use of mail ballots. It was immediately challenged by nearly half the states and multiple voting rights groups. A federal judge sided with the states\u2019 argument, blocking key provisions of the executive order.<\/p>\n

Before that court decision, the United States Postal Service proposed a rule that would allow the agency to refuse to deliver mail ballots in states that didn\u2019t turn over voter rolls to the federal government. The postmaster general has said the service will abide by any court order.<\/p>\n

Separate from the executive orders, senior Justice Department officials last year began exploring whether they could bring criminal charges against state or local election officials if the administration determined they had not sufficiently safeguarded their computer systems.<\/p>\n

Democrats fear that the president could weaponize federal agencies on or after Election Day. Mr. Trump told The New York Times last year that he regretted not seizing voting machines after the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

Abigail Jackson, a spokeswoman for the White House, defended the president\u2019s actions and policies regarding elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered noncitizen voters,\u201d she said in a statement. Ms. Jackson also pointed to a few specific examples of noncitizens who were charged with illegal voting and noted other ongoing investigations. She reiterated the president\u2019s desire to pass federal voting legislation that would enshrine many of his voting objectives into law.<\/p>\n

\u201cNoncitizens voting is a crime,\u201d Ms. Jackson said. \u201cAnyone breaking the law will be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trying to tighten voting restrictions <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

While Mr. Trump\u2019s attempts to use executive orders to change elections have been largely blocked by courts, the president and his allies have found other avenues to add new restrictions to voting that are designed to help them win at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

Soon after Mr. Trump took office, the Justice Department dropped or halted all of its open voting rights lawsuits that preceded Mr. Trump\u2019s inauguration, easing the path for partisan gerrymanders and voting laws to withstand legal scrutiny. That included dropping a lawsuit against a voting law in Georgia.<\/p>\n

The number of lawyers working in the voting-rights arm of the Justice Department, one of the government\u2019s critical bulwarks against civil rights abuses in voting and elections, has dwindled from about 30 at the end of the Biden administration to the single digits after resignations, cuts and reassignments.<\/p>\n

Voting during the Nevada primary on June 9, 2026, in Las Vegas.<\/span> Roger Kisby for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, the Trump administration joined a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee against Mississippi that said the state\u2019s policy of accepting mail and absentee ballots that were postmarked by Election Day but arrived in a short period afterward violated federal election law. (Far more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail.)<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld Mississippi\u2019s grace period.<\/p>\n

The president has also sought to force Congress to pass voting legislation that would codify many parts of his executive orders into federal law. The legislation, called the SAVE America Act, would, among other things, require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote as well as photo identification to vote. It would also require states to submit their voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

Republicans lack the votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster and pass the legislation, but the president has continued to pressure Republicans to force a vote, threatening not to sign any nonbudgetary bills until it is passed.<\/p>\n

Pushing for mid-decade redistricting<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Perhaps no strategy embraced by Mr. Trump was more explicitly designed to prevent a midterm loss than the mid-decade redistricting wars of the past year.<\/p>\n

Last summer, Mr. Trump and his allies at the White House began encouraging Texas Republicans to take the rare step of redrawing their congressional maps to try to save the party\u2019s endangered majority.<\/p>\n

By November, forcing Republican-led states to redraw their maps was at the center of Mr. Trump\u2019s strategy to win the midterms and prevent Democratic control of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

Texas, North Carolina and Missouri quickly redrew their congressional maps, netting seven new Republican-leaning districts. Ohio redrew its map as required by state law, adding as many as two new Republican-leaning districts.<\/p>\n

State Representative Matt Morgan of Texas, a Republican, holding a map of proposed congressional districts in the state last August.<\/span> Sergio Flores\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n

Democrats responded by introducing aggressive gerrymanders in California and Virginia, which appeared to bring the redistricting wars to a draw \u2014 until the Supreme Court weakened a key component of the Voting Rights Act in April. After the ruling, Tennessee redrew its maps to eliminate the lone Democratic-held seat in the state, and Louisiana and Alabama quickly followed with new maps that would each eliminate another Democratic-controlled district.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the Democratic gerrymander in the state, effectively eliminating four new Democratic-leaning districts and handing Republicans a multi-seat structural advantage heading into the midterms.<\/p>\n

Cutting election security<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has gutted key elements of the nation\u2019s election security infrastructure. Experts warn that the changes could reduce visibility into nationwide cyberattacks and foreign influence campaigns while making it more difficult for state and local election officials to coordinate defensive operations.<\/p>\n

Early in his second term, Mr. Trump signed two directives that administration officials have used to justify the dismantling of these programs.<\/p>\n

The administration has weakened the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, terminated an F.B.I. task force aimed at combatting foreign influence in U.S. elections and ended a program responsible for sharing threat intelligence with state and local officials.<\/p>\n

The actions are rooted in longstanding grievances from Mr. Trump and his allies, who have argued that, under the guise of fighting misinformation and disinformation, the Biden administration infringed on free speech.<\/p>\n

Christopher Krebs, then the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in Arlington, Va., in March 2020.<\/span> Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n

In his first budget request to Congress, Mr. Trump proposed eliminating CISA\u2019s disinformation offices, accusing them of \u201cconspiring against the First Amendment rights of President Trump and his supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s attacks on CISA also reflect his animosity toward Christopher Krebs, the agency\u2019s former director who oversaw efforts to secure the 2020 election and infuriated Mr. Trump by publicly debunking his lies about that election.<\/p>\n

Undermining faith in the electoral system by questioning previous results<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump refuses to concede that he lost the 2020 election and has used the White House to both legitimize and seek evidence supporting his debunked conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

On his first day back in office, he granted clemency to the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Later, he introduced a page on the White House website falsely accusing Democrats of promoting a \u201cgaslighting narrative\u201d in their efforts to certify the \u201cstolen election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump also ordered Tulsi Gabbard, then the director of national intelligence, to help manage an F.B.I. investigation of his baseless claims of voting irregularities in Fulton County, Ga. The move came after a team led by Ms. Gabbard seized voting machines from Puerto Rico to examine them for vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

Members of the F.B.I. entering the Fulton County elections office on Jan. 28, 2026.<\/span> Nicole Craine for The New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n

The administration has also issued subpoenas for 2020 election records in Maricopa County, Ariz.; requested access to voting equipment used in Missouri; and, based on disproven allegations about the 2020 election, demanded 2024 election records from Wayne County, Mich. Last month, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles broke with decades of precedent in predicting election fraud charges related to California\u2019s primary races while votes were still being counted.<\/p>\n

In May, the Justice Department announced it was setting up a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claimed to be victims of government \u201cweaponization,\u201d which would most likely include people who stormed the Capitol in 2021. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said on June 2 that the fund would not move forward, but Mr. Trump later said he still loved the idea.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump has stocked his second administration with people who are sympathetic to his denial of the 2020 election results. These officials have been put into positions where they could play a role in undermining this year\u2019s and future elections.<\/p>\n

Where Trump has installed election deniers in government<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Punishing <\/strong>those who have worked against election denialism<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

While Mr. Trump has long used grievance as a political tool, retribution against his perceived enemies has become a centerpiece of his second administration. Much of that retribution has targeted anyone who has investigated the Jan. 6 attack or pushed back on his 2020 election denial.<\/p>\n

Within hours of retaking office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order asserting that the Biden administration had engaged \u201cin a systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents\u201d and directing federal agencies to seek evidence that it did so.<\/p>\n

The administration has purged F.B.I. agents and government attorneys who worked on investigations of Mr. Trump or his allies, revoked security clearances from dozens of people as punishment for alleged misconduct and opened investigations into Mr. Trump\u2019s supposed \u201cenemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has also sought to target ordinary citizens. In April, the Justice Department issued a federal grand jury subpoena demanding the identities of every person who worked on the 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga. The county\u2019s motion to block the subpoena characterized it as intended \u201cto target, harass and punish the president\u2019s perceived political opponents.\u201d The effort remains tied up in the courts.<\/p>\n

As the only president in United States history to seek to overturn an election result, Mr. Trump has spent years using social media and campaign rallies to sow doubt about the integrity of U.S. elections. He continues to do so, but now he also wields the authority to direct his cabinet secretaries and other political appointees to implement his agenda. All of Mr. Trump\u2019s directives underlying the above agency actions are based on several debunked election-related conspiracy theories, including:<\/p>\n

His claim that undocumented immigrants vote illegally in large numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want illegal immigrants to come in, criminals, doesn\u2019t matter because they want to get their votes.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Republican fundraiser, March 25, 2026<\/p>\n

His spreading of debunked claims of widespread fraud related to mail-in ballots \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cMail-in ballots are corrupt. Mail-in ballots, you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0White House remarks, Aug. 18, 2025<\/p>\n

\u2026\u00a0and voting machines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we\u2019re at it, Highly \u2018Inaccurate,\u2019 Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Truth Social post, Aug. 18, 2025<\/p>\n

Broader unsubstantiated claims he has made of widespread voting fraud that include people voting multiple times or assuming dead people\u2019s identities to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day you read in the papers about more and more fraud that\u2019s discovered.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0White House remarks, April 9, 2025<\/p>\n

And finally, his belief in a \u201cdeep state\u201d embedded in the government that has worked against him and other Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to find the deep-state actors who have buried into government, fire them and escort them from federal buildings.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Campaign rally, Jan. 28, 2023<\/p>\n

While many of Mr. Trump\u2019s directives have been blocked or delayed by the courts, election experts say that their potential harm remains significant, and that some of the efforts have already eroded faith in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point of so much of this campaign is not actually to change policy because they know they don\u2019t actually have the authority to change policy,\u201d said Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Brennan Center\u2019s Voting Rights and Elections Program. \u201cIt\u2019s to inject distrust and confusion into our elections, both to discourage people from participating and to lay the groundwork for calling elections into question after the fact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump is trying to use the levers of the federal government, along with personal influence over state and local lawmakers, to reshape the rules governing the 2026 midterms and future elections in extraordinary ways. Many of these efforts have been blocked by courts, stymied by the Constitution or stopped in Congress. But the relentless<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[10739,21400,13077,81,4005],"class_list":{"0":"post-50849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-midterms","9":"tag-scales","10":"tag-tip","11":"tag-trump","12":"tag-ways"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}