Trump gives speech at National Prayer Breakfast
The nation’s 24 Democratic governors today issued a statement opposing Trump’s call earlier this week to “nationalize” elections, with the governors saying the president’s remarks are an “undemocratic attempt to silence the American people.”
“Voting in free and fair elections is the foundation of our democracy. All Americans deserve to have their voices heard as they exercise their right to vote, without interference from the federal government,” the governors said in the statement, shared first with NBC News.
“President Trump’s threats to remove the ability of states to run their own elections is an undemocratic attempt to silence the American people who are rejecting his costly and divisive agenda,” they added. “While Trump whines about losing a free and fair election, he’s now openly talking about rigging one in the future. Democratic governors won’t let that happen.”
On Monday, during an appearance on former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino’s podcast, the president said, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least — many, 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
The comments sparked pushback even from some of Trump’s closest allies, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday saying he was “not in favor” of federalizing elections, a move that would run afoul of Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
On Wednesday, in an interview with NBC News, the president walked back his comments, saying, “I didn’t say ‘national,’ I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt,” pointing to Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit.
Trump has often derided Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan in his ongoing false claims that the 2020 presidential election, which former President Joe Biden won, was “stolen” from him. Biden carried all three of those states and several other swing states in 2020. Last month, the FBI raided an elections hub in Georgia to gather records from the 2020 election.
Thursday’s statement was signed by Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Bob Ferguson of Washington, Josh Green of Hawaii, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Katie Hobbs of Arizona, Kathy Hochul of New York, Laura Kelly of Kansas, Tina Kotek of Oregon, Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Dan McKee of Rhode Island, Matt Meyer of Delaware, Janet Mills of Maine, Wes Moore of Maryland, Gavin Newsom of California, Jared Polis of Colorado, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Josh Stein of North Carolina, and Tim Walz of Minnesota.
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