{"id":9951,"date":"2026-05-11T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/trump-so-far-failing-in-quest-for-power-over-elections-as-midterms-approach-2\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T10:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:00:02","slug":"trump-so-far-failing-in-quest-for-power-over-elections-as-midterms-approach-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/trump-so-far-failing-in-quest-for-power-over-elections-as-midterms-approach-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump so far failing in quest for power over elections as midterms approach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"President
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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in December 2025. (Tom Brenner\/Getty Images).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As President Donald Trump tries to assert power over U.S. elections, he has raged on social media, cajoled Republican lawmakers and unleashed the Department of Justice on his political enemies.<\/p>\n

What has he accomplished with all that effort? Not a lot.<\/p>\n

Six months before the November midterm elections, the Trump administration\u2019s quest to exercise authority over the contests and impose sweeping restrictions on voters has proved largely unsuccessful. The aggressive campaign \u2014 separate from Trump\u2019s more effective foray<\/a> into redistricting fights \u2014 has been stymied by the courts, rebuffed by many state election officials and opposed by key Republican senators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s many out there who are worried about the constant drumbeat of what the administration is trying to do and what they might do in the future. I hear this from voters, I hear this from election officials,\u201d said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what I see is that there is a vast chasm between wanting to do something and trying to do something and actually successfully doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Months yet to go<\/h4>\n

Much could change between now and November, of course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Facing likely Republican losses in the midterms, election experts warn that Trump could lash out with increasingly brazen attempts to control elections. Or that the Justice Department will conduct more raids targeting election officials, like the\u00a0FBI seizure of ballots<\/a> from the 2020 presidential election from Fulton County, Georgia.<\/p>\n

Democrats remain braced for federal election interference, especially the prospect of Trump deploying immigration enforcement agents or the military at polling locations \u2014 an action prohibited under federal law that some administration aides have nevertheless refused to flatly rule out.<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s record of achievement up to this point is poor.<\/p>\n

The SAVE America Act, which would require voters to prove their citizenship, is stalled in the U.S. Senate despite Trump\u2019s repeated demands for its passage. Federal courts blocked an executive order Trump signed last year that sought to impose a proof-of-citizenship rule unilaterally.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department hasn\u2019t secured a single court victory in the 30 lawsuits it\u2019s filed to force states and the District of Columbia to turn over sensitive personal data on voters. A bipartisan group of state secretaries of state is fighting the Trump administration in court \u2014 only 13 Republican states have\u00a0provided the information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And an executive order\u00a0signed in March<\/a> that would limit voting by mail faces five federal lawsuits, with an initial courtroom showdown set for Thursday in Washington, D.C. Federal agencies have yet to\u00a0finalize plans<\/a> to implement the directive, which election law experts call illegal and unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World. We are either going to fix them, or we won\u2019t have a Country any longer,\u201d Trump\u00a0posted<\/a> on Truth Social in late April.<\/p>\n

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told States Newsroom that Trump is committed \u201cto 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 non-citizen voters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson named several federal laws that she said provide the Justice Department oversight over states\u2019 election administration. She also noted Trump\u2019s support for the SAVE America Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone breaking the law will be held accountable,\u201d Jackson said in an email.<\/p>\n

System under strain<\/h4>\n

Trump has placed the nation\u2019s electoral system under immense stress before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the 2020 election, the president and his allies worked to overturn the results, with Trump leaning on then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject Electoral College votes. The effort failed but it led to a mob storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and disrupting Congress\u2019 certification of Joe Biden\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

Today, the system is holding but under strain. An analysis released Thursday by Issue One, a pro-democracy group, likened American elections to a resilient patient with a strong immune system. Yet the Trump administration, rather than boosting the body\u2019s immunity, acts like a virus, it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s election system\u2019s immune system is not breaking, but it is actively fighting against the virus of democratic backsliding,\u201d the\u00a0analysis reads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The group identified three safeguards it says are in critical condition: Congress, internal checks within the executive branch and the information ecosystem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Election officials have watched with particular concern as the Justice Department probes the 2020 election. Trump has long falsely asserted that the election was stolen and in January 2021 pressured the Georgia secretary of state to find him enough votes to overturn his loss in that state.<\/p>\n

After the FBI obtained a warrant to seize 2020 election ballots from Fulton County, which encompasses Atlanta, in January 2026, the DOJ last month sent a subpoena for information on the county\u2019s election workers. The subpoena demands the names, positions, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of election workers and poll volunteers who worked the 2020 general election.<\/p>\n

Fulton County is\u00a0fighting the subpoena<\/a> in court. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the FBI doesn\u2019t have to give the ballots back to the county,\u00a0though he noted<\/a> the seizure \u201cwas certainly not perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Supporters<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Supporters of President Donald Trump demonstrate at a \u2018Stop the Steal\u2019 rally in front of the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix on Nov. 7, 2020 . (Photo by Mario Tama\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Justice Department has also obtained a grand jury subpoena for election records in Arizona and demanded 2024 ballots from Wayne County, Michigan, which includes Detroit. And the FBI recently interviewed a Wisconsin election official about the 2020 election, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Local leaders have promised that they won\u2019t bend to pressure from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole thing is designed to harass, intimidate and chill participation in our election process,\u201d Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chair Robb Pitts, a Democrat, said in a\u00a0video statement<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to work, it\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue state action<\/h4>\n

Some states are\u00a0pursuing additional safeguards<\/a> against federal election interference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, New Mexico lawmakers passed a bill that makes intentionally obstructing polling places a felony and prohibits the military or any armed federal personnel from polling locations.<\/p>\n

The legislative push, concentrated in Democratic states, comes as Trump administration officials have sidestepped direct questions about whether troops or federal agents could be deployed to the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s yet another gotcha hypothetical,\u201d Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a\u00a0recent U.S. Senate hearing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
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\"U.S.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens to questions during a news conference at the Pentagon on March 2, 2026. (Photo by Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation May 6 that imposes a 250-foot buffer zone around election sites where warrantless arrests and searches, use of force and ID checks by state or federal officers, including immigration agents, are banned. The measure also bans masked or concealed identities near polling places, among other provisions.<\/p>\n

Connecticut state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, a Democrat who chairs the state House Government Administration & Elections Committee, said that if nothing happens during this fall\u2019s elections, \u201cI\u2019ll say, \u2018Good, it worked.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The goal of the bill isn\u2019t to create confrontations between Connecticut law enforcement and federal forces, but to deter intimidation in the first place, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a responsibility to protect all of our residents, but especially our voters, related to our elections \u2014 to prevent these sorts of tools of threat and intimidation and terror from being used to shape our political life,\u201d Blumenthal said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Connecticut state Sen. Rob Sampson, a Republican, said that he wouldn\u2019t support abuse from the federal government. But Democrats, he said, were spinning a false narrative of voter intimidation for political purposes and attempting to distract from weaknesses in election security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last few years, I don\u2019t always trust the results,\u201d Sampson said on the Senate floor. \u201cNow, some people will go out there and say, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re an election denier.\u2019 I\u2019m not saying that there\u2019s tens of thousands of faulty or erroneous or fraudulent votes. I\u2019m just saying that there\u2019s definitely some.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOP elections bill stalled<\/h4>\n

Trump and Republicans in Congress say major action is needed to boost election confidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Trump\u2019s urging, the U.S. House passed the SAVE America Act in February. In addition to requiring voters to show documents such as a passport or birth certificate that prove citizenship, the legislation also imposes ID requirements at the polls and would require states to bolster efforts to clean voter registration lists.<\/p>\n

Polling suggests Americans support at least some of the bill\u2019s provisions. A\u00a0Politico poll<\/a> conducted in April found 52% of Americans support requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, while 18% oppose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democrats, election administration experts and some Republicans say the proposal would lead to chaos. Its provisions would take effect immediately, upending voting requirements potentially months or weeks before elections. Married women and others who have last names that don\u2019t match their birth certificates could face\u00a0additional obstacles<\/a> registering to vote.<\/p>\n

The SAVE America Act hasn\u2019t advanced in the U.S. Senate. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican and major proponent of the bill, attempted to add the measure onto a budget bill in April, but\u00a0the Senate rejected it, 48-50.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean Trump and his allies in Congress will stop,\u201d H\u00e9ctor S\u00e1nchez Barba, president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota, a Latino voting rights group, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The Senate has since moved off the SAVE America Act and would need to hold a procedural vote to return to it. Whether that happens is in doubt, but Kennedy indicated to\u00a0Punchbowl News<\/a> that he intends to force another amendment vote later this month. His office didn\u2019t respond to an email from States Newsroom seeking confirmation.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
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\":<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
A mail ballot drop box at a polling station n Arlington, Virginia, on Election Day 2025. (Photo by Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Postal Service\u00a0<\/h4>\n

Without the SAVE America Act, Trump\u2019s options to legally restrict voting are limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump signed an executive order in March\u00a0attempting to limit<\/a> the U.S. Postal Service\u2019s delivery of ballots through the mail. The order also directs the Department of Homeland Security to create \u201cstate citizenship lists\u201d that include the names of voting-age citizens in each state \u2014 effectively creating a national voter list.<\/p>\n

But the order has come under legal attack from Democratic groups, a coalition of Democratic states and multiple voting rights organizations. Its opponents are hopeful that federal judges will soon block the directive like they did a March 2025 order that included a proof-of-citizenship requirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have confidence that the Trump administration or Donald Trump will refrain from trying to interfere with our elections,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cBut I have great confidence that the American people will stand up against it.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in December 2025. (Tom Brenner\/Getty Images). As President Donald Trump tries to assert power over U.S. elections, he has raged on social media, cajoled Republican lawmakers and unleashed the Department of Justice on his political enemies. What…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump so far failing in quest for power over elections as midterms approach - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/trump-so-far-failing-in-quest-for-power-over-elections-as-midterms-approach-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump so far failing in quest for power over elections as midterms approach - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in December 2025. 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(Tom Brenner\/Getty Images). As President Donald Trump tries to assert power over U.S. elections, he has raged on social media, cajoled Republican lawmakers and unleashed the Department of Justice on his political enemies. 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