Key Takeaways:
Efforts by Campaign Legal Center and our coalition partners successfully prevented federal interference with the elections.
Despite an unprecedented election interference effort by the Trump administration, voters had the final say during the midterms.
The 2026 midterms were, in part, a referendum on the issue of government corruption. In polling, American voters consistently ranked corruption as one of their top issues of concern.
Since assuming office in January 2025, President Donald Trump, his administration and his allies have consistently sought to diminish the power of voters to decide who represents them in government. The president’s attempted federal takeover of the electoral process strikes at a foundational principle that separates democracies from other systems of government. Campaign Legal Center remains vigilant, but efforts to undermine the will of American voters during the 2026 midterm elections largely failed.
Despite the very real threat posed by the Trump administration, the elections by and large went smoothly, with voters turning out in record numbers and ballots being processed and counted with few issues. Major candidates who lost quickly conceded, and President Trump has acknowledged that Democrats will take control of Congress in January 2027. Against this backdrop, what are the major takeaways from the 2026 midterm elections?
Advocates, organizations and voters countered attempts to interfere in the midterm elections.
The relative lack of federal government interference with voting and the counting of votes during the midterm elections was never a foregone conclusion. Campaign Legal Center has been working in coalition with other pro-democracy organizations since the early days of the second Trump term to counter active election interference efforts and prepare for future threats. The success of these efforts can be attributed to lessons learned from years of experience fighting election interference at both the federal and state level, particularly since 2020.
Efforts to safeguard the 2026 midterms included:
Successful lawsuits blocking unconstitutional attempts by the president to take control of elections through executive orders;
Playing a central role in legal actions to oppose a nationwide effort by the U.S. Department of Justice to collect and misuse private, sensitive information about every American voter;
Countering an unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering campaign led by the Trump administration by winning victories for fair maps in states like Utah and Missouri; and,
Stopping last-ditch attempts by the Trump administration to disenfranchise voters, including an effort to challenge the eligibility of more than 20,000 mail ballots in California.
Voters rejected government corruption.
Surveys released before Election Day and exit polls showed strong voter concerns about government corruption and a desire for an accountable government that upholds the rule of law and our constitutional values.
Campaign Legal Center has been sounding the alarm since the presidential transition, when the first signs of this administration’s jaw-dropping pattern of corrupt actions began to appear. CLC has worked to expose corrupt government actions from the president himself, his family and members of his administration, including but not limited to:
Unprecedented abuse of the presidential pardon power in exchange for political and personal benefits;
Using the levers of government for financial gain — often staggering amounts —and;
Conflicts of interest involving multiple members of the Trump cabinet.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should listen to the clear message sent by voters and take action to repair the cracks in our democracy that enabled elected and government officials to act in their own self-interest instead of the public interest.
Progress on issues Campaign Legal Center has championed for years is absolutely necessary to rebuild trust in our government, including a congressional stock trading ban, closing the revolving door that allows lobbyists to flow seamlessly from K Street to the White House, and the creation of strong, independent ethics enforcement bodies for all three branches of government.
It is also essential to codify long-held norms and practices into law to protect the constitutional balance of power between the branches of our government and Americans’ right to political dissent, including by strengthening civil service protections, safeguarding independent agencies, and preventing political prosecutions.
Campaign spending broke records, highlighting the need for reform.
The 2026 midterm elections broke all previous records for election spending in America. Elon Musk and a host of other megadonors spent billions of dollars to influence the outcome. President Trump openly flouted campaign finance laws by repeatedly speaking about his direct control of MAGA Inc., a super PAC that spent hundreds of millions of dollars during the election.
Corporate special interests, including the crypto and AI industries, spent heavily as well, often using shell companies to hide their role in a flood of political ads aimed at defeating specific candidates for Congress. The creation of “pop-up” super PACs in the lead up to Election Day accelerated during the midterms, accounting for more than 22% of independent expenditures in congressional races — about $637 million total. Pop-up super PACs typically form during the weeks just before an election, which allows them to avoid disclosing the identity of their donors until after Election Day.
Campaign Legal Center will continue pressing for congressional oversight and legislative solutions to this deluge of special interest election spending during the new Congress, specifically through passing strong disclosure laws and overhauling the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to end dark money.
The opportunity is here to advance a pro-voter, pro-democracy agenda everywhere.
The degree of political change delivered by voters in the 2026 midterms makes it one of the most consequential elections in 50 years. The election results set the stage for movement on a wide range of pro-voter reforms that can strengthen our democracy and establish needed guardrails against any future attempts to interfere with elections and undermine the freedom to vote.
Campaign Legal Center is devoted to advancing impactful legislation in Congress, including a partisan gerrymandering ban, an updated John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and federal legislation to protect election workers. New opportunities have opened up at the state level as well for passing state voting rights acts, safeguarding future presidential elections by updating state law to comply with the 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act, and passing laws to protect the integrity of election materials, such as voting machines, ballots and other equipment.
In addition to movement on voting rights and redistricting, there is renewed energy behind efforts to stop government corruption and strengthen the guardrails that ensure government officials are focused on the public interest instead of their own self-interest.
Campaign Legal Center is mobilizing to seize this opportunity for bold policy solutions that will continue to protect and strengthen our democracy. Join our campaign for a more responsive, accountable and representative government.