Federal judges last week delivered significant blows to President Donald Trump’s efforts to revamp elections ahead of the midterms, but that doesn’t mark the end of his work on the subject.
Following Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, some observers who have closely watched his return to the White House warn he could be preparing to sow doubt over the midterm election results if they don’t go his way.
Republicans already have worries about the midterms, given Trump’s aggressive immigration approach, ongoing wars and persistent concerns among Americans about affordability. Sitting presidents have lost House seats in every midterm election since George W. Bush was in office in 2006, underscoring the difficult position Republicans find themselves in.
Here are details on where Trump’s work to “nationalize” the 2026 elections and have Republicans “take over” the midterms stands.
First Executive Order on Elections
A federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked Trump’s efforts to enforce most of his first executive order on elections. The order required proof of citizenship to register to vote and mail-in ballots to be returned by Election Day.
“While the Constitution vests the President with ‘executive Power’ and commands him to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’ it does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” Judge Denise Casper wrote.
But Trump hasn’t given up on the subject. Instead, he turned to Congress.
Trump last week ramped up pressure on congressional Republicans to push through the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification to vote in federal elections and documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote. It would also require absentee voters to submit a copy of their identification with their ballot.
Citizenship is already one of the requirements to vote, and instances of non-citizens voting in federal elections are rare, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Yet Republicans have found success politicizing the issue and demanding reform.
The bill is unlikely to get the 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority needed to pass the Senate. Trump has pressured Republicans to end the filibuster in order to pass the bill with a simple majority, though many Republicans seem skeptical of the idea.
Revamping Mail-In Voting
A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump’s executive order to tighten restrictions on mail-in voting, ruling parts of the order unconstitutional.
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The order required the Department of Homeland Security to use citizenship and naturalization records to compile and send to the states a list of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state. It also required the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver ballots to the voters on the approved list.
“The Constitution does not grant the President any specific powers over elections,” U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote.
U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner told Congress last week that under a proposed rule stemming from the executive order, USPS would not deliver ballots to states that refused to turn over lists of voters who received mailed ballots to the federal government. He added that the agency would comply with any relevant court rulings.
Efforts to ‘Nationalize’ Elections
Trump in February called on Republicans to “nationalize” and “take over” elections.
“We should take over the voting in at least many – 15 places,” Trump said. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
Under the Constitution, states and Congress have the authority to set election rules. Elections are run by state and local election officials – not the federal government.
Another federal judge delivered a blow to Trump’s efforts to nationalize elections when she ruled that the revamped version of a federal tool called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements might aggregate personal data in a way that may lead to voters being wrongly purged from voter rolls.
The tool was a focal point of Trump’s second executive order on elections. The Trump administration can, of course, appeal any of the several court decisions made last week that affected his election efforts. But it looks to be an uphill battle for the Trump administration.
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