Americans who go to vote this November may be met by what President Trump is calling his own “election integrity army” at polling locations.
On Sunday, the president revisited familiar talking points about the upcoming midterms, repeating unsupported assertions that elections in the US are not being conducted fairly.
The comments land as voting rules continue to shift in a number of states, including expanded ID requirements in some places and a federal proposal in the Senate that would require proof of citizenship before someone can cast a ballot.
In a post to TruthSocial, President Trump threatened:
“During my Historic Election in 2024, when I won every single Swing State, and decisively won both the Electoral and Popular votes by wide margins, the Republicans had an Election Integrity Army in every single State to preserve the sanctity of each legal vote.”
He added:
“We will be doing the same again in 2026, but it will be much bigger and stronger.”
The promise of a “much bigger and stronger” presence of loyal supporters at voting sites comes as Republicans face a difficult political climate, with recent polling offering little encouragement.
According to the RCP average, Trump’s approval rating is sitting at -14, with net favorability around -20, leaving the administration leaning on the same messaging strategy it has used in previous election cycles.
Since February, Trump has described US elections as ‘Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World’, and has warned he intends to ‘fix’ them or ‘we won’t have a country any longer’.
Unsurprisingly, that rhetoric has raised alarms among voters, election administrators, and observers who track threats and pressure around election systems.
David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, said:
“I think there’s many out there who are worried about the constant drumbeat of what the administration is trying to do and what they might do in the future. I hear this from voters, I hear this from election officials.
“And what I see is that there is a vast chasm between wanting to do something and trying to do something and actually successfully doing it.”
Still, the talk of deploying an “army” to polling places is only one element of a broader push that critics say could shape the midterm landscape in ways that were once considered beyond the pale.
At the same time, several states have been moving quickly to redraw district boundaries ahead of November, a process that has reignited long-running arguments over partisan mapmaking and the balance of power in Congress. Much of the most aggressive redistricting activity has been centered in Republican-led states.
The states that have redrawn their maps for November’s elections are as follows:
Legislative and legal battles are ongoing to redraw electoral maps in the following states: