The SAVE Act is Trump’s Plan For the Midterms
For President Trump and his allies, the SAVE Act isn’t about elections - it’s their strategy for determining the outcome of the midterms.
Trump has repeatedly said passing the bill would “guarantee” a Republican victory in the midterms, and has pushed GOP lawmakers to enact it on that basis. He has elevated the legislation above all other priorities, threatening to refuse to sign any other bills until it is passed and demanding congressional action specifically in the run-up to the election.
Now that it is likely to fail, Congressional Republicans are still using the SAVE Act as a political cudgel to undermine Americans’ faith in elections ahead of November. Leader Thune made it clear that this is an issue Republicans will use in the midterms if “Democrats don’t get on board." Senate debate is moving forward even without the votes to pass it, in what reporting describes as an effort to spotlight the issue, reopen previously answered questions, and energize the GOP base ahead of the midterms. At the same time, Republicans are preparing to use Democratic opposition to the bill to attack their commitment to election integrity and shape midterm narratives.
Trump’s focus on the bill is part of a broader effort to reshape election rules and narratives ahead of November. He has called for “nationalizing” elections, prompting warnings from lawmakers that he is seeking to influence or interfere with how the midterms are conducted.
Bottom line? Not only is this bill not about protecting the integrity of our elections - Trump’s push for it is in fact about setting the table for him to claim power for Republicans regardless of the election’s outcome.
See more key reporting below:
NYT: The Daily: Trump Wants to Change How We Vote. Will He Succeed?
The Daily Punch: Trump's plan to save midterms? Voter ID law
Reuters: How Trump's long-shot voting bill could hurt his own supporters
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For weeks, President Donald Trump has demanded that Republicans pass legislation requiring Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, arguing it would deliver the party a "guaranteed" win in November’s midterm elections.
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Punchbowl: GOP frets SAVE Act push undermining midterm messaging
President Donald Trump believes Republicans will lose the midterm elections if the Senate doesn’t pass the SAVE America Act.
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Still, Republican leaders see the core of the SAVE America Act — voter ID and proof of citizenship for federal elections — as a popular issue to highlight, and they want to use it as a cudgel against Democrats. But GOP infighting, egged on by Trump, is preventing them from capitalizing.
POLITICO: SAVE America Act is ‘No. 1 priority,’ Trump tells Republicans
President Donald Trump told House Republicans Monday to pass a major partisan elections bill a third time with new provisions, saying it should be the GOP’s “No. 1 priority” ahead of the midterm elections.
“It will guarantee the midterms,” Trump told lawmakers gathered at his golf resort. “If you don’t get it, big trouble, my opinion.”
The Hill: Thune: Republicans will use SAVE Act in midterms if Democrats don’t get ‘on board’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says Republicans will attack Democrats in the fall elections for failing to enact the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act if they don’t “get on board” with the voting reform bill, which is now on the Senate floor.
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“I think that’s a fairly simple position and one Democrats ought to eventually get on board with. But if we don’t … obviously, it’s an issue we will be able to use, I think, in the fall elections,” Thune told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an interview.
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