Democratic state attorneys general across the US are preparing for President Donald Trump to take unprecedented actions to interfere with the 2026 midterm elections.
As reported by Politico on Monday, the Democratic AGs have been conducting war games aimed at countering "a series of increasingly extreme scenarios" where Trump tries to block Democrats from retaking the US House of Representatives later this year.
Among the many possibilities that the AGs are preparing for are that the Trump administration orders the seizure of ballots and voting machines, defunds the post office to block the delivery of mail-in ballots, and sends federal immigration enforcement officials or even the US military to patrol polling places.
The AGs have also been carefully monitoring Trump officials' rhetoric for hints of future election subversion plots, such as when US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said recently that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would "make sure we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders."
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown told Politico that such statements are a "red-alarm fire that people need to take very seriously," and emphasized that Democrats need to be ready for the president to commit outright crimes to keep the GOP in power.
"He will try anything,” warned Brown. "We have to just sort of think creatively about: If you were the president and you were trying to invalidate an election or undermine an election, what are the oddball, ludicrous, unconstitutional theories that you might advance?"
In addition to Noem's comments about DHS getting involved in elections, Trump ally Steve Bannon has floated sending US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to monitor polling places, while Trump in January said that "we shouldn’t even have an election" this year.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Politico that it was "sad and tragic" that his office had to take such preparations, but said it was necessary because the president "wants to continue to have his party prevail, seemingly by whatever means necessary."
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel pointed to the recent FBI seizure of materials related to the 2020 election from Fulton County, Georgia as a sign of what's to come during the midterm elections.
"We recognize that what happened in Fulton County could happen in Detroit," she said. "Not because there’s any merit to claims that anything wrong happened in Detroit, but because we know that those claims will be made again."
Politico also reported on Monday that Democracy Defenders Action has recruited Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) to deliver a "State of Our Democracy" speech on Tuesday ahead of Trump's State of the Union address where she will outline the threats the president and his administration pose to Americans' voting rights.
Norm Eisen, executive chairman of Democracy Defenders Action, told Politico that the speech was necessary because "the threats facing our democracy have never been greater."
