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-Editorial
A day after Democrats scored sweeping victories in state elections across the country, U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) led a group of Democratic senators on Wednesday in warning against what they described as ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to alter election laws and undermine voting rights ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Padilla, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and California’s former secretary of state, joined Blumenthal and Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on the Senate floor. The lawmakers cautioned that recent federal actions and proposals could weaken state election systems and restrict voting access nationwide.
Padilla said that as Trump’s tariff policies continue to raise grocery and energy prices, and as Republican leaders resist expanding health care and nutrition assistance programs, the administration has instead focused on changing election procedures in ways that could favor their political interests.
“The president and his party would rather undermine future elections by purging voter rolls and instituting partisan mid-decade redistricting than change their harmful policies,” Padilla said.
He cited the recent approval of California’s Proposition 50, a state constitutional amendment banning mid-decade redistricting, as an example of voters rejecting partisan manipulation of district boundaries. Padilla said the measure was a direct response to a redistricting plan pushed through in Texas that created five additional Republican congressional seats.
“Californians knew right away that enough was enough,” Padilla said. “That’s what yesterday was all about: leveling the playing field.”
Padilla urged Republicans to support his bicameral legislation to prohibit mid-decade redistricting and to require all states to establish independent, nonpartisan redistricting commissions. He said the proposal would reduce political influence in the drawing of electoral maps and strengthen public trust in elections.
Blumenthal echoed Padilla’s concerns, saying that election interference — whether through redistricting, voter roll purges, or misinformation — represented a growing threat to democratic institutions.
The senators also criticized what they described as an aggressive campaign by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Trump administration to obtain voter information from states. According to Padilla, the DOJ has sent letters to at least 40 states requesting details about their voter maintenance practices and has filed lawsuits against eight states, including California, that refused to share voter registration data with federal authorities.
Padilla called the DOJ’s actions “illegal and unprecedented,” arguing that they violated the principle of state control over elections. He accused the administration of developing a national voter database containing sensitive personal information in an effort to monitor and restrict voter access.
Meanwhile, Trump dismissed the results of the California ballot measure and claimed — without evidence — that Proposition 50 was “rigged.” He has renewed his calls for eliminating mail-in voting, ending same-day registration, and imposing new voting restrictions.
According to multiple reports, the White House is preparing an executive order to restrict mail-in voting and tighten access to the polls, complementing a previous order that was partially blocked by federal courts. Administration officials have maintained that these actions are aimed at preventing voter fraud, though numerous studies and court rulings have found no widespread evidence of such fraud in recent elections.
Padilla said the White House’s efforts to question election legitimacy echoed the false claims made after the 2020 election and warned that Trump’s rhetoric could be used to justify a “fake national emergency” to influence state elections.
“Members of Congress can and must stand up to every one of Trump’s unconstitutional power grabs over state election authority,” Padilla said. “If the Trump White House tries to declare some fake national election emergency to create a pretense for federal intervention, I will force a vote here in the Senate to stop it.”
Padilla and his colleagues urged Americans to remain engaged and to continue participating in the democratic process despite ongoing misinformation about voter fraud.
“No matter what happens, voters cannot lose hope,” Padilla said. “We need Americans to keep showing up every election, just as they did yesterday, and make clear that it will be the people — and only the people — who determine the future of our democracy.”
The remarks reflect the growing partisan divide over election law reforms ahead of the 2026 midterms, as both parties prepare for high-stakes contests that will determine control of Congress and several key governorships. Democrats have argued that federal voting rights protections are essential to prevent political interference, while Republicans contend that states should have more authority to regulate their own elections.
