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The Trump Administration Gets an Early Start on Interfering in the Midterms
Confirmed
In Short: The event, scheduled to start at 5 p.m., will feature Trump speaking at 6 p.m.
The Trump administration is seeking to undermine the midterm elections in Alaska, California, and other yet-to-be-disclosed locations, according to reports.
In Alaska, ballot-stacking tactics are common and generally considered legal, having been used by both parties.
Below, Talkingpointsmemo will track in real time how the administration and others target the midterms.
President Trump is holding a campaign event in the lead-up to the midterm elections, with a new CBS News model showing Democrats retaining a slight edge for the House majority.
Zacharia Zacharia was appointed as the 37th White House press secretary, thanking the administration for the appointment as the midterm elections approach.
Homeland Security has been surveilling and covertly infiltrating nonprofits and churches conducting voter engagement, targeting nearly 150 such groups as of July.
Inflation remains elevated, and the Federal Reserve is accumulating more information to determine the appropriate policy stance.
Vice President JD Vance has hinted at the possibility of not running in the 2028 presidential election, even as the 2026 midterms are ongoing.
Soaring fuel prices threaten to cost Republicans their control of Congress in November's midterms.
While the Justice Department claims it does not improperly interfere with elections, it has not ruled out such actions.
In Decatur County, Georgia, early voting turnout was lower than in the previous election, but the state saw a record number of early voters on the first day of early voting.
What this adds
The report's findings add to the growing body of evidence that the Trump administration is taking aggressive steps to influence the midterm elections, including ballot-stacking tactics and covert surveillance of voter engagement groups.
Background
The report's findings add to the growing body of evidence that immigration policies under the Trump administration are having a detrimental effect on the U.S. economy, particularly in states like Massachusetts that rely heavily on international students and skilled workers.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether and when a federal court can throw out an agency’s action or rule in its entirety, specifically in the context of a policy denying bond hearings for immigrants.
What's confirmed
- The Trump administration is seeking to undermine the midterm elections in Alaska, California, and other yet-to-be-disclosed locations, according to reports.
- In Alaska, ballot-stacking tactics are common and generally considered legal, having been used by both parties.
- Below, Talkingpointsmemo will track in real time how the administration and others target the midterms.
- President Trump is holding a campaign event in the lead-up to the midterm elections, with a new CBS News model showing Democrats retaining a slight edge for the House majority.
- Zacharia Zacharia was appointed as the 37th White House press secretary, thanking the administration for the appointment as the midterm elections approach.
- Homeland Security has been surveilling and covertly infiltrating nonprofits and churches conducting voter engagement, targeting nearly 150 such groups as of July.
- Inflation remains elevated, and the Federal Reserve is accumulating more information to determine the appropriate policy stance.
- Vice President JD Vance has hinted at the possibility of not running in the 2028 presidential election, even as the 2026 midterms are ongoing.
- Soaring fuel prices threaten to cost Republicans their control of Congress in November's midterms.
- While the Justice Department claims it does not improperly interfere with elections, it has not ruled out such actions.
- In Decatur County, Georgia, early voting turnout was lower than in the previous election, but the state saw a record number of early voters on the first day of early voting.
What's still developing
- And the Trump administration is charting a new path for questioning the results: interfering on the front end.
- In October, he threw his own all-star pre-midterms festival, Power to the People, right after releasing his heaviest album in years, Everyone Gets Everything They Want.
- Earlier Tuesday, Clyburn cast his ballot early in Orangeburg, a city 45 miles southeast of Columbia, and told reporters he was set to run in whatever district they draw him into.
- Around 26,000 voters cast ballots within the first several hours of polls opening, putting Tuesday on track to break early primary voting records.
- Josh has dubbed stories in this vein “ ‘Layla’-coda updates ” which, TPM publisher Joe Ragazzo eventually explained to me, is a reference to the scene in Goodfellas when Robert De Niro’s character has his crew members killed off, one by one, to avoid sharing the cash from a successful heist.
- “Laura, you should be transparent with your followers, and you are dead wrong about Stanley,” he wrote on X.
- The program started 30 minutes late at 5 p.m., and the president is expected to speak at 6 p.m.
- While it’s “never” the Justice Department ’s intention to “improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process,” he told reporters, “to say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that, of course, I’m not going to say that,” he said.
- Warsh said that the seismic change to the schedule would help improve the “quality” of its decisions.
- With diesel prices hitting records ahead of the US midterm elections, President Donald Trump has expressed support for a ban on diesel exports, but analysts warn the move could drive up wider fuel prices.
- Just weeks before the midterms, a number of vulnerable Senate Republicans were presented with the choice Thursday to go with voters on the Iran war or stick with President Donald Trump.
- The redistricting battle that reshaped the electoral maps for the 2026 midterms created 10 additional red-leaning seats in the House of Representatives, according to an internal House Republican assessment obtained by the BBC.
Sources
- Rolling Stonelink
- NPRlink
- Talkingpointsmemolink
- 1011Nowlink
- Oannlink
- Independentlink
- NBC Newslink
- Dailywirelink
- AFPlink
- Wtxllink
- MS NOWlink
- BBClink
- WarpBeat — background on How the Trump administration's crackdown on international students could affect the economy link
- WarpBeat — background on Trump administration asks justices to determine courts’ ability to vacate federal agency actions link
- ABC News — video link