Last week, Donald Trump made a demand to Congress. Now, he’s holding them to it.
During the State of the Union, Trump previewed his new SAVE America Act to Congress. His version of the bill — filled to the brim with extreme voter suppression — is somehow more radical than the legislation collecting dust on Majority Leader John Thune’s desk.
One week later, Trump is making sure that Congress knows what you and I already know. The president’s preview wasn’t a suggestion — it was a demand. With caps locks at the ready, he took to Truth Social to rile up his base:
“The Republicans MUST DO, with PASSION, and at the expense of everything else, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT - And not the watered down version. This is a Country Defining fight for the Soul of our Nation!”
Trump is making a clear distinction between the “watered down” House bill and his more extreme, more aggressive version of the SAVE America Act. Just in case that wasn’t obvious enough, he then posted his list of demands, including requiring voter ID, mandating proof of citizenship to vote, banning no-excuse mail-in voting — and inexplicably, banning men from women’s sports and requiring parents to approve transgender surgery for minors (to be clear, this is already the law).
Republicans are losing the popularity contest. Trump’s gerrymandering ploy is failing. The administration is firing Cabinet members while they're live on air. The beefed-up SAVE America Act is Trump’s Hail Mary for the midterm elections — and we better make sure he fumbles the snap.
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Texas has been a playground for Republican voter suppression tactics. Last summer, the GOP kicked off the gerrymandering wars with mid-decade redistricting in the Lone Star State. And on Tuesday, Texas Republicans sewed chaos and confusion in their own primary elections.
Voters in Dallas and Williamson counties were left scrambling to find their polling location after local Republican lawmakers abandoned countywide voting systems that allowed voters to cast ballots at any polling location. Under the new law, voters were assigned precincts.
As Texans rushed to find their precinct before polls closed, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued to oppose extended voting hours — and the GOP-controlled state Supreme Court quickly ruled in his favor.
Tuesday’s mess was just a sneak peek at what’s to come. In November, I expect Republicans to throw up even bigger hurdles that prevent thousands and thousands from voting — despite their best, most well-intentioned efforts.
During the primary election, the Texas GOP was just testing the waters — and with Republicans working at every level to suppress voters, they got away with it. I’m worried about what’s to come in November, and you should be too.
What I’m watching in the courts
Trump’s Department of Justice sued five additional states for their unredacted voter rolls — bringing the total number to a whopping 29, plus Washington, D.C. The new target list includes Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Jersey — the first four of which are controlled by Republicans.
The lawsuits mark a stark escalation in Trump’s war for voter information. While the initial slate of lawsuits were directed at blue states that stood up to Trump, red states are now pushing back against the president’s power grab.
Red or blue, it doesn’t matter: Trump’s DOJ is determined to gain access to our private information, including names, addresses, birthdates, driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers. From purging voter rolls to collecting data, it remains to be seen what the DOJ will do with this information. We can’t afford to wait around to find out.
With the midterm elections just eight months away, my team is keeping a close eye on the voter roll cases — and we’re adding five more to the list.
What gave me hope this week
While the Texas primary was certainly a warning sign for Republican antics in November, I’m happy to report that Tuesday wasn’t all doom and gloom. In fact, it was a great night for Democrats — as most election nights have been since November 2024.
Democrats continued to overperform, even flipping a state House seat in Arkansas that Democrats have not held for over a decade. That marks the 27th legislative seat Democrats have flipped since Trump retook office. How many seats have Republicans flipped? ZERO!
The news gets even better. As of Tuesday night, Democrats have overperformed in 253 of 283 key elections since 2025, and Democratic turnout reached levels we have not seen in decades.
Heading into the midterms, the momentum is on our side and the wind is at our back.
This is our moment to retake the majority, and we will not let it slip away.
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