Key Takeaways:
- The U.S. Department of Justice cannot be trusted because of its attempts thus far to interfere in the 2026 midterm elections.
- The Trump Administration has largely failed to execute a national takeover of our elections thanks to the work of Campaign Legal Center and others.
- American voters are undeterred by this administration’s actions and Campaign Legal Center stands ready to respond to any future threat to the will of American voters.
This blog was previously published on October 29, 2026 as an edition of my newsletter: "From the Desk of Trevor Potter"
Tensions are growing as Election Day draws closer. For election lawyers this year, it is a time of mixed emotions. We celebrate the work that has been done to safeguard Americans’ freedom to vote, while remaining vigilant as the federal government keeps trying to undermine that freedom, in order to promote President Trump’s partisan political agenda. This is why I enter the coming days and weeks feeling wary.
As I told Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” during an interview conducted in September, the Trump administration is abusing the executive branch’s very limited role in our elections to intervene in the states’ voting process. This activity is largely focused on states and jurisdictions where Democrats are in charge, but the administration is also forcing state officials in Republican-controlled states to choose between partisan loyalty and defending their role under the Constitution to run elections.
I expect that, on the whole, states will vigorously guard their authority. Senior elected officials from GOP-led states, like Wyoming (as seen in the “60 Minutes” clip), Utah, and Alaska have been publicly critical of the administration’s heavy-handed tactics. If, however, state officials cave to political pressure and attempt to interfere in the normal process for determining the winners of close races, the response by Campaign Legal Center and our allies will be swift and will most likely involve litigation.
Even in the absence of complicit state actors, there is reason for concern. When pressed by reporters, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon have refused to rule out the possibility that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) could try to intervene in the election. And when directly asked if the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will deploy immigration enforcement officers to the polls, the response from officials has consistently been somewhat dodgy, saying that there are no plans to do so.
It is difficult to take these non-denial denials as anything other than bad news. This Justice Department, in my view, is not to be trusted because it has engaged in numerous bad-faith attempts to influence the elections.
- The department was a key player in President Trump’s push to have states gerrymander their congressional maps before the election.
- DOJ lawyers have used highly questionable tactics to pressure states to remove voters from the rolls and not count ballots based on evidence that is dubious at best, most recently in California and Washington state.
- The DOJ has violated its own rule against taking legal actions against elected officials within 60 days of an election by raiding the Washington, D.C. home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
- And, in a stunning display of contempt for the will of voters, the agency, at the direction of President Trump, has sued the state of Alaska, alleging that the state’s U.S. Senate election is in danger of producing an illegitimate result if the Republican candidate loses a close race.
These actions demonstrate a willingness to pursue a political outcome at the expense of the law and the fundamental right of voters to be the ones who choose election winners.
Despite these clear threats posed by this administration, I also enter this period of the election cycle feeling confident. This is because I firmly believe Campaign Legal Center and our democracy coalition allies have done incredible work thus far to prevent the Trump administration from meddling with the midterms, and I believe we are well-prepared to respond to future threats.
Trump has failed to execute a national takeover of our elections through his illegal and unconstitutional executive orders. This includes his plan, blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, to give the U.S. Postal Service the power to determine which Americans can vote by mail. The DOJ has lost 27 cases and counting in an attempt to illegally access states’ unredacted voter lists, preventing any number of nefarious scenarios by which that data could have been comprised or weaponized to pressure states into purging eligible voters from the rolls. The president’s top legislative priority, an anti-voter bill called the SAVE Act, remains stalled in Congress.
All of these victories for voters, and more, are a product of legal actions and pro-voter advocacy by Campaign Legal Center, our coalition partners, and concerned citizens who bravely chose to go to court to stop executive overreach, the likes of which we have never witnessed before.
This is why I also feel grateful as the midterm elections draw to a close. The amount of effort and dedication that has gone into pursuing lawsuits and legislative victories in defense of American democracy during this period has been nothing short of astonishing. My gratitude also extends to the thousands of officials, poll workers and volunteers who serve as the backbone of our elections, putting politics aside to ensure all Americans can vote and have those votes counted.
Finally, after everything that has transpired over the last two years, I feel a sense of hope. More than 30 million Americans have already voted, demonstrating their commitment to make their voices heard in the face of a would-be authoritarian president. If, before this second Trump term, some Americans did not fully comprehend the danger posed by a government that fails to follow the Constitution and the rule of law, many more certainly seem to be activated today.
I can attest to this sense of alarm and yearning for action because I have experienced it during my travels across the country. The people I speak with on a regular basis understand that democracy is a precious gift that can be taken away if those who are in control of the government are not held accountable for their transgressions. Elections serve as the primary means by which Americans can hold elected officials accountable. Our task at Campaign Legal Center is to ensure the will of the voters is honored.