James Hynes

State College

During the 2020 election, Donald Trump promoted a fake-elector scheme rooted in the claim that a vice president could discard lawful electoral votes in favor of fraudulent ones. When that effort failed — along with more than 60 lawsuits seeking to overturn certified results — he encouraged supporters to descend on the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to complete the constitutional transfer of power.

Those events were not an endpoint. Today, Trump is engaged in a broad campaign to undermine confidence in — and control over — the 2026 midterm elections.

He has pressured Republican-led states to redraw congressional districts mid-decade for partisan advantage. He has issued executive actions aimed at restricting mail-in voting and questioned the legitimacy of voting machines. He has pursued lawsuits seeking access to ballots, voting data, and voter rolls. Most alarming, recent federal actions in Georgia suggest an effort to force Democratic-majority jurisdictions to surrender election records outside the normal chain of custody — where they become vulnerable to manipulation or improper purges.

Against this backdrop, Trump’s threats to “nationalize” elections in Democratic districts should concern every American, regardless of party.

Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy. Call your representatives and demand that they protect the integrity and security of our elections. Whoever wins in 2026, we all lose if the process itself cannot be trusted.