President Donald Trump speaks to reporters and members of the media at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 1, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
Trump has called on Republicans to nationalize elections throughout the week; the FBI conducted a raid on an election hub in Fulton County, Ga.; and a cohort from the Senate GOP are pushing for the SAVE America Act to get a shot in the upper chamber.
Senate Democrats see the moves as laying the groundwork for election interference during the 2026 midterm election cycle — a point that they railed against Trump and Republicans for years.
"I think as Trump gets more desperate, he's looking at ways that he can rig the election anytime a Republican doesn't win," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. "He thinks it's unfair, and so he wants to tilt the rules to make sure the Democrats don't win."
"So yeah, I think we ultimately have to be really vigilant about this," he continued. "The Constitution is crystal clear, the federal government can't run state elections, but that doesn't mean he won't try."
REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wants House Republicans to push back against the Trump-backed government funding deal and demanded that it include DHS funding and his voter ID legislation. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
But some Senate Republicans have pushed back on Trump’s desire to implement more federal control over elections.
They argue that it’s a request that runs headfirst into the Constitution, which dictates that elections are run at the state and local levels with little impact from the federal government. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has also thrown cold water on the notion.
"Distributed, decentralized elections held at state-level, in my view, are a protection against hacking and other things, so it's a lot harder to hack 50 systems than it is one," Thune said. "So, if that's the issue, I'm a believer in keeping most of those administered — most issues, at least administered by the state. The issue of citizenship, when it comes to voting, would be an exception to that."
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
And while there is a push to pass the SAVE America Act, which would include voter ID, proof of citizenship to register to vote, and other reforms, it’s unlikely to survive in the Senate.
That’s because of the 60-vote filibuster threshold and Senate Democrats’ near-unanimous disdain of the legislation, which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called "Jim Crow 2.0."
Still, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., the three most vocal supporters of the bill, met with Trump to discuss a path forward on Thursday.
"It is Democrats bending over backwards to prevent voter ID and proof of citizenship for American elections," Lee told Fox News Digital in a statement. "It is Democrats demanding that nobody ask questions about election security and irregularities. The projection is jaw-dropping."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-blast-democrats-trump-election-meddling-claims-hypocritical-conspiracy