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gary peters
‘Yeah, That’s Illegal’: USPS Chief Says States Won't Receive Mail Ballots Unless They Hand Voter Rolls to Trump
"You're making a decision that people cannot vote by mail. That's unacceptable," said US Sen. Gary Peters.
Jun 25, 2026
Postmaster General David Steiner drew the ire of Democratic senators and voting rights advocates on Wednesday when he said that the US Postal Service would not deliver mail-in ballots in states that do not hand their voter files to the Trump administration.
During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the panels ranking member, asked Steiner if USPS would deliver ballots in a state whose government had refused the Trump administration's request for access to its absentee voter list.
"Under our proposed regulation, no," Steiner replied. "We would tell the state that we need the manifest."
Peters responded by accusing USPS of creating a rule that "coerces" states into handing their voter files to the federal government even though they are under no legal obligation to do so.
"You're making a decision that people cannot vote by mail," Peters said. "That's unacceptable."
PETERS: Yes or no, if a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?
POSTMASTER GENERAL STEINER: No.
PETERS: So the proposed rule basically coerces states to hand over their… pic.twitter.com/5bnJb5Atnr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 24, 2026
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also sparred with Steiner during the hearing, informing the postmaster general that USPS had absolutely no role to play in determining how states conduct their elections.
"You run the Postal Service, you deliver the mail," Blumenthal said. "You don't review ballots or registration. Nobody said you should... This proposed rule is bogus."
Blumenthal demanded Steiner commit to deliver all mail-in ballots to voters in his state regardless of whether it complied with the Trump administration's demands, but the postmaster general said he would not make such a commitment.
"Our proposed rule is subject to litigation," Steiner told him. "We'll see how that all turns out."
"Well, I guess we will see," Blumenthal replied, "but it will probably be in court."
The Founding Fathers didn’t envision USPS reviewing voting ballots or registration. Trump’s Postmaster General refuses to commit to deliver mail-in-ballots without fulfilling Trump’s new bogus, sham review. pic.twitter.com/V3jiBMyGOY
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) June 24, 2026
Some observers reacted with shock to Steiner's willingness to go along with Trump's latest election-rigging scheme, which they said was patently unconstitutional.
"Yeah, that's illegal," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. "The Post Office can’t refuse to deliver mail to try and get policy concessions."
"We have a Postmaster General who should not be in any position of trust or influence," commented political scientist Norman Ornstein, "a disgraceful traitor to American values."
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signaled his state would challenge the proposed USPS rule.
"Illinois expanded vote-by-mail because we believe voting should be easier, not harder," Pritzker wrote. "Now, Trump’s handpicked Postmaster General is threatening to withhold mail ballots unless states turn over voter rolls. That's not election security. It’s voter suppression."
Political scientist Robert E. Kelly argued that Trump's attack on mail-in voting was a "deeply malign gimmick which makes it so hard to accommodate MAGA within the US political order."
"No one thought to use the mail as a partisan weapon," Kelly wrote. "The laws and norms around mail are poorly known, because no one ever thought to try this gambit before. But now, because Trump insists on politicizing the bureaucracy, this whole thing will go to court just months before the election."
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Ready to 'Fight for the Working Class': Sanders Endorses Abdul El-Sayed for US Senate
"We need candidates who will stand up to Trump's authoritarianism and protect our democratic way of life."
Apr 17, 2025
Within hours of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed confirming his candidacy for U.S. Senate on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders affirmed his support for the Michigan Democrat, who recently resigned as Wayne County public health director to prepare for a run in 2026.
"This is an unprecedented moment in American history. We need an unprecedented response," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "We need candidates who are prepared to stand up for the working class of this country and take on the oligarchy."
El-Sayed, a longtime ally of Sanders, joined him last month for a Michigan stop on his nationwide Fighting Oligarchy Tour, which is pushing back against the agenda of Republican President Donald Trump and his collection of billionaires.
"We need candidates who will stand up to Trump's authoritarianism and protect our democratic way of life," the senator declared Thursday. "It is my strong view that Abdul El-Sayed is the kind of leader who will do just that. Abdul is a physician who understands that our current healthcare system is broken and wildly expensive. He understands that healthcare is a human right, which is why he supports Medicare for All."
Sanders also highlighted El-Sayed's commitment to "vigorously fight" against the country's "corrupt campaign finance system" by overturning the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, as well as his dedication to raising the minimum wage and making it easier to join unions because "he understands that too many workers in America are earning starvation wages."
"In other words, as a United States senator, he will take on powerful special interests and create a government and economy that work for all of us, not just the few," he concluded. "I am very proud to support Abdul to become the next senator from the great state of Michigan."
Other progressives across the country have joined Sanders in expressing support for El-Sayed on social media. Among them are Democratic Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman and Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the latter of whom said Thursday that the Michigander "is a friend and a strong champion of Medicare for All and standing up for the human rights and self-determination of Palestinians. He has always stood on principle, and I am excited he is running."
Prior to his Wayne County position, El-Sayed ran for governor of Michigan in 2018 after previously leading the Detroit Health Department. He also authored the 2020 book Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey Into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic and co-authored the 2021 book Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide, which features a foreword by Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
Building "a healthier America" is a top priority for El-Sayed. The candidate's other focuses, according to his campaign website, are an economy for working people, clean air and water, more and better education, sensible foreign policy, and solving the housing crisis.
"As I've spoken to Michiganders, one thing's become clear: It's just too hard to get by," Abdul said in a Thursday statement. "But it doesn't have to be. And to fix it, we need to break the chokehold that billionaires and oligarchs like Donald Trump and Elon Musk have on our politics and economy."
"It's not just about what we're fighting against—it's about what we fight for," he asserted. "Michiganders deserve an economy that works for them, guaranteed healthcare, clean air and water, and affordable housing. Just as I have in Detroit and Wayne County, I'm running to deliver government services that work for the rest of us."
El-Sayed hopes to fill the seat of Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who announced in January that he wouldn't seek a third term in 2026.
As the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday:
El-Sayed... joins state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, of Royal Oak, as the only announced candidates in a Democratic primary race for what is expected to be a hotly contested seat...
Other Democrats looking at the race include U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, of Birmingham, and former state House Speaker Joe Tate, of Detroit, and pundits have speculated state Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is term-limited in that job, could run as well.
Whoever wins the Democratic primary may face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, of White Lake, who narrowly lost to Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin last year.
However, as the Free Press noted, "U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, of Holland Township, and Tudor Dixon, the 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee who lost to Whitmer, are weighing bids. Two lesser-known candidates, Dr. Kent Benham, a dentist in the Deerfield area, and Fred Heurtebise, of Luther, whose website describes him as a welder and engineer, have also filed in the Republican primary."
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'Good for Democracy': Ex-Lawmakers Urge Senate Vote on Banning Stock Trades
More than 40 former members of Congress said the ETHICS Act is sorely needed because it "addresses pressing issues, especially low levels of trust in Congress and the appearance of insider trading."
Sep 16, 2024
A bipartisan group of more than 40 former federal lawmakers on Monday urged the U.S. Senate to vote on proposed legislation that would ban sitting members of Congress from buying or selling stocks and other financial holdings.
"We, the undersigned bipartisan former public officials, many of whom served in Congress, write to urge Senate leadership to bring the amended Ending Trading and Holdings In Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act to a floor vote before it is set to sunset at the end of the 118th Congress," the letter's signers wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Signatories include former Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) along with Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), and Leon Panetta (D-Calif.).
"Notably," the ex-lawmakers said, "we propose attaching this crucial legislation to any 'must-pass' package. This legislation merits inclusion in such a package because it addresses pressing issues, especially low levels of trust in Congress and the appearance of insider trading."
The letter continues:
As you are both aware, the discussion of how elected officials trade stocks has been intensifying both inside and outside the Congress for years. In 2022, members of Congress made more than 12,700 individual trades, with dozens of members making above-average gains. A 2022 New York Times investigation reported that a fifth of all lawmakers were trading in companies directly related to their work on a congressional committee.
Critics have long decried existing legislation—including the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Stop Trading Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, which require annual financial disclosures by members of Congress—as largely toothless window dressing. Advocates of measures like the ETHICS Act have pushed for more stringent safeguards against self-dealing by members of Congress.
The ETHICS Act—which was introduced in July by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—would ban members of Congress, the president, and vice president from buying and selling securities, commodities, futures, options, trusts, and other holdings. It would also prohibit their spouses and dependent children from divesting covered assets starting in 2027. The bill contains robust enforcement mechanisms and noncompliance penalties.
Calls for a vote on the ETHICS Act mounted after last week's revelation that more than 50 U.S. lawmakers held stocks in companies related to the military-industrial complex—even as those same firms received hundreds of billions of dollars in annual business via congressional legislation.
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