Midterms ! …The State Governors

Must defend our elections “…against all enemies; foreign and domestic…” The enemy domestic is in the White House.

Everyone north of the Gulf of Mexico knows that trump will try to steal the midterm elections.

There may be a few eskimos living north of Mount Denali who don’t know it, but probably not.

By now everyone knows that Bone Spurs has no clue and doesn’t care what the Constitution says, doesn’t feel constrained by the courts or public opinion and will lie, cheat and steal at every opportunity, especially if he feels his powers as a Putin style dictator are threatened.

He definitely feels threatened by the midterm elections. Rightfully so.

Mr. “We must possess Greenland” knows that his political and personal future both grow very dim if he loses the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives (which is a near certainty) and maybe even the Senate (a growing possibility) on Election Day; November 3, 2026.

Many, MANY Republicans in Congress and the trump administration KNOW that the current temporary WH occupant will employ every means to cheat in the midterms, and they are quite willing to go along. What we’ve seen so far;

• The SAVE Act - as passed by the House is pure voter suppression. It’s

  poorly, but emphatically disguised and promoted as “election security”.

• The demands by the Bondi DOJ that all states submit their registered voter lists; so they can potentially be “cleansed” to meet federal standards.

• The mid-cycle gerrymandering efforts; demanded by trump of states that could add (R) seats and condemned for states that could add (D) seats.

• The raid confiscating the Fulton County, Georgia Election Records - as part of building the narrative to scream “foul play” where none exists, when the midterm results are in and they don’t go the way trump wants.

• And trump has recently announced a desire to (illegally) nationalize - meaning steal - the upcoming elections in at least those locations where he has every reason to know he will lose. He wasn’t joking.

Do we need to take him seriously ?

Absolutely.

The morally bankrupt Chaos King who brought us January 6, 2021, is certainly capable of attempting to deliver another illegitimate horror of historic proportions for when we wake up on the morning of November 4, 2026.

If we let him.

The SAVE Act, which just passed in the House, should more accurately be referred to as the “Republicans Perpetual Odorous Objective to Purge (POOP) Democratic Voters Act”. It needs to die in the Senate and very well might.

Dozens of states are refusing to comply with Bondi’s demand that they turn over complete, unredacted voter data - and they have been winning in the courts. Our Constitution clearly sets the conduct of elections in the states, which trump needs to ignore or override in order to get to control elections, so he can control the results. trump was paying attention when Putin conducted his “Elections 101” class. Mostly blue states are telling Bondi to pound sand.

The gerrymandering, if you’re keeping score, may end up no better than a net push for the (R) candidates, and may actually backfire in a number of the new districts created in Texas.

So; the overweight red tie monster is not making much headway so far in stealing the midterms with the attempts he’s pursued so far. This means we can expect Mr. “I don’t know why we even need elections” will attempt more drastic actions to sabotage a potential blue wave in November.

The bloviating Insurrectionist-In-Chief almost certainly knows that the midterms are going to put him out of the dictator business for good and set up the start of the tsunami of impeachments for his entire administration. Noem, Hegseth, Bondi, Lutnick, Miller and of course trump himself all need to go. Knowing him as we do, we can expect him to break any law, manufacture any lie and employ any means he thinks he has at his disposal to neutralize the impending results the midterms might bring.

We voters in our millions will oppose the trump madness at the polls in November, but we need the state Governors to plan for and prepare, starting now, to defend the state elections from any and all of the potential assaults on them that trump in his desperation might attempt.

Some of the tools in trump’s toolbox for inflicting election interference include ICE (his Gestapo), his DOJ (Department of Injustice) and his FBI.

In an attempt to save his (R) majority in Congress, Mr. “you won’t need to vote anymore” could have Noem position ICE details at targeted polling locations where a significant percentage of the electorate consists of minority voters who might be subject to intimidation, or even taken into custody (ICE might call it “operation Voting Booth Blitz”).

In locations where a vulnerable Republican is defending, it’s possible Patel might have FBI agents prepositioned to seize ballots and tabulation machines if the accumulating results start to trend against the (R) candidate as the evening progresses. Mr. “2020 election was stolen” is prepared to declare that the Democrats are “cheating like Hell” anytime an (R) candidate is trending towards a loss. Evidence? He doesn’t need evidence. There won’t be any evidence. His vehement assertion is all he needs to take actions which would potentially invalidate elections underway or even after they have concluded.

At trump’s direction, seizing and removing any ballots or machines, for any length of time, would permanently violate the chain of custody, possibly in many dozens of districts. It is not inconceivable that even armed, belligerent ICE goon squads could be tasked with raiding polling locations, carrying away the machines….

Then we might witness the Bondi Justice Department swooping in to sort through the mess. Enter the (unbiased? …hah!) Supreme Court. I can just picture trump, Miller, Vought, Johnson and Jim Jordan plotting this all out, step by step and weighing the strategy options, the timing and tactics.

The probability of this exact scenario taking place is NOT ZERO.

A quick glance at Cook Political 2026 House Race Ratings suggests which state Governors should really be concerned and invest seriously in defending our midterm elections.

Any (R) House Rep who is not in a “Solid Republican” rated district can be considered vulnerable. Michigan, Arizona and Colorado each have three. Virginia would currently have only 2, but Virginia is on the cusp of redistricting, which might put as many as 5 Republican seats up for grabs. Many states have one or two, but Pennsylvania has four flippable House Reps who might benefit from trump team chicanery; PA-07 McKenzie, PA-10 Perry, PA-08 Bresnahan and PA-01 Fitzpatrick.

When the writing on the wall is as clear as it is right now, every Democratic state Governor knows, or should know, that they have to prepare. They should communicate among themselves, so that none are left behind in the effort. Every possible disruption that trump could attempt to employ to manipulate, overturn or invalidate the elections, must be anticipated and prepared for. The probability of a desperate trump inflicting an unthinkable chain of events is not zero, but goes down considerably if targeted victim states adequately prepare.

What tools do the Governors have ? A lot.

1. State legislatures.

   Starting now, State Legislatures should consider passing laws that can be brought to bear if the trump machinery pulls particular pranks; for example;

• No ICE presence allowed within 1 mile of any polling location on Election Day.

• No Federal official (such as FBI) shall be allowed in any polling location, or any office or other location where, and during any time at which, election processing is underway.

• No one may stop, impede or detain any election official delivering election documents, materials or equipment to or from an official election facility.

Laws like these may already be in place, if not, they should be passed at the state level. They would likely result in screams and legal challenges gushing from the White House. Tough. They would be clear, specific, legitimate extensions of the Constitutional “Election Clause”, Article One Section Four, providing that states conduct elections and would communicate that this particular Federal Government is not trusted and needs to be put on notice that states will take action to defend their ability to conduct elections without interference.

2. The National Guard.

   As an example, the Pennsylvania National Guard has more than 18,000 personnel in uniform.

It is noteworthy that State National Guard officers take an oath very similar to U.S. active duty military officers. Note especially the wording of the first clause;

“I, (First, Middle, Last Name) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of (Commonwealth, District, Territory) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; …”

Any assault on the legal conduct of an election activity by a state, with the intent to disrupt, alter or deny that election, would qualify as an act that would require a “defense against an enemy, foreign or domestic”. Period.

State Governors, like Governor Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, for this midterm election, should plan to activate some number of their National Guard units, and have them briefed, trained and prepositioned in strategic locations - ready to deploy to anywhere they might be needed in response to a trumpian election interference act.

3. The State Police.

   Pennsylvania, once again as an appropriate example for this discussion, has approximately 4500 State Police in uniform. On Election Day, some number could be assigned to closely monitor polling locations where voter turnout could have a potentially anti-trump result, such as in the four districts represented by the vulnerable defending House Reps mentioned above. If, a blue state becomes aware of a sudden influx of ICE personnel before the midterms, State Police would be the best asset to keep tabs on them through Election Day.

4. A telephone.

   If they haven’t already, Governors should be on the phone, maybe today but no later than tomorrow, to the National Guard and State Police Commanders and their heads of Election Commissions. Here’s what needs to be said;

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“We need to meet Monday morning to thoroughly consider each potential threat that may be inflicted on our November election by the current Federal administration. We need to design our exact response and the preparations we need to make, starting now, to best counter all the possible contingencies. We need to have our best people prepare the training that all our people may require. I’m going to call Governors Josh Shapiro, Abigail Spanberger, Josh Stein, Tim Walz, Tony Evers and Gretchen Whitmer to see what plans they’re working on and I’ll have that information when we meet Monday. Please also bring your second in command. We will walk out of this meeting with a plan.”

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What our country is “NOT OKAY” from, will not heal itself.

The healing process can be put in place this November by the voters, but as never before, it will fall on the leadership of our Governors to keep this election secure.

My definition of “secure”, in this context, has nothing in common with the definition of “secure” as intended by trump, Bondi, Leavitt or any Republican Congressman when you hear it from them.

Alarmist ? No apology. The downside of being over prepared is zero.

The downside of not being adequately prepared is potentially horrendous, if we wake up on the day after the elections and then discover what we wish we had done.