The warning signs for 2026 are already here

October 27, 2025

Donald Trump and the Republican Party aren’t waiting around for the midterms. Their attacks on free and fair elections have already begun, and on Nov. 4, we will get the live show.

Trump’s Department of Justice — the one he controls and has staffed from top to bottom with sycophants — announced that it will send “election monitors” to several polling sites in California and New Jersey. In New Jersey, the DOJ appears to be responding to a request from the state Republican Party.

California, which is voting on a critical redistricting ballot measure, will see federal officials deployed in seven counties. In New Jersey, which is electing a new governor, the DOJ will be present in Passaic County — which is 43% Hispanic. Virginia, which also has statewide elections but notably has a Republican governor, is not slated to have any federal presence.

At best, this move will serve as a dry run for an administration focused on subverting the 2026 federal midterm elections. At worst, we could see Trump’s DOJ suppress voting rights or spread lies and disinformation about the voting process and its outcome.

Already, some former DOJ lawyers are dismissing these fears, pointing to the Department’s long history of deploying monitors to ensure minority voters are protected. I find those assurances laughably naïve. Protecting minority voters isn’t even on Pam Bondi’s to-do list. Nor is she interested in ensuring that all lawful votes are counted.

Bondi is an agent of Trump. Trump wants to pull off an upset in New Jersey and defeat a ballot initiative designed to offset his Texas map-rigging scheme. If these deployments can help him, Bondi will see it as doing her job. If not, she and the White House will have normalized the practice — perhaps lulling some into complacency — while gaining valuable information on how to undermine elections in 2026.

Let’s be clear: past Departments of Justice have deployed federal election monitors, but never under an attorney general like Pam Bondi — and, at least in New Jersey, never at the request of a Republican Party that openly seeks to suppress voting rights and undermine free and fair elections.

Past presidents have deployed the National Guard, but none abused it like Donald Trump. Presidents have modified the White House, but none sought to bulldoze it for a vanity project. Previous administrations have worked with the private sector to promote policy goals, but none has weaponized government as a threat.

Comparing what former administrations have done to what Trump is doing is a fool’s errand. Searching for a good-faith reason behind Trump’s actions is worse — it’s dangerous for democracy.

We have seen this playbook before. We have seen what happens when people assume that Trump will eventually accept the outcome of free and fair elections. Even worse, we have learned that every time Trump has been granted even a sliver of power, he has used it to serve himself to gain political advantage.

In 2020, it began with bogus claims of election fraud; it escalated to frivolous lawsuits and when that failed, to pressuring state officials to “find” votes and to refuse to certify the results of the election. Ultimately, his lies led to a violent insurrection at the Capitol.

Just as Trump has demonstrated time and again that he views government as a personal weapon, Bondi and the Department of Justice have proven themselves Trump’s willing accomplices. This time will be no different.

They are sending these DOJ officials to the polls to do Trump’s bidding — to gather information for him and his administration to misuse and wage war on voters and elections. I cannot tell you exactly what form that will take. Trump may not even know how he plans to abuse this process.

But I know this: minority voters will not be protected. Voting rights will not be preserved. Free and fair elections will not benefit.

The 2025 elections are upon us. For those living in New Jersey, the election of a new governor will help set the course of the state for the next four years. The stakes in California are even bigger nationally.

The 2026 midterms are closer than they appear and the groundwork for manipulation is being laid now. Every test run, every “pilot program,” every seemingly routine deployment of federal officials under Trump’s control should be viewed with deep skepticism.

Everyone seems to understand that when it comes to the military. Most see how ICE can be weaponized against voters. These moves to normalize federal intrusion into local election processes and create precedents through seemingly harmless “monitors” is no less dangerous.

Trump will exploit whatever he can under the guise of “security” or “integrity.” It is our job not to give him the opportunity.