• Trump tells Dan Bongino that Republicans should “nationalize the voting” in at least 15 unspecified states
• Constitutional experts note elections are state-managed under Article I, requiring Congressional action for changes
• Bipartisan backlash emerges with Chuck Schumer calling proposal “outlandishly illegal”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — President Donald Trump called Monday for Republicans to “nationalize” voting and “take over” election administration in at least 15 states, marking his most aggressive rhetorical step yet toward federal intervention in a process explicitly reserved for states under the Constitution.

Speaking on The Dan Bongino Show during the former FBI deputy director’s first broadcast since leaving federal service, Trump framed the proposal around debunked claims that undocumented immigrants vote illegally and that Democrats orchestrate widespread fraud.

“These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally,” Trump said during the podcast interview. “It’s amazing the Republicans aren’t tougher on it.”

“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. We have states that are so crooked,” the president continued.

Constitutional Authority Lies With States

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The U.S. Constitution explicitly grants election administration authority to states through Article I, Section 4, which reads: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”

Under this framework, American elections operate through a decentralized system where voting is administered by county and municipal officials in thousands of precincts across the country. Any nationalization effort would require Congressional legislation — the president cannot unilaterally restructure election administration.

Even if Trump sought such changes, he would need Congress to pass enabling legislation, a power the president does not possess acting alone.

Schumer: “Outlandishly Illegal”

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered a sharp rebuke Monday, calling Trump’s proposal unconstitutional and comparing the president’s rhetoric to authoritarian leaders.

“Does Donald Trump need a copy of the Constitution? What he’s saying is outlandishly illegal,” Schumer said. “Once again, the president’s talking no differently than a dictator who wants elections in America to be as legitimate as elections in countries like Venezuela.”

The Democracy Docket noted that Trump offered no evidence for any of his claims about election fraud or illegal immigrant voting, consistent with his pattern of making unsubstantiated allegations about U.S. elections despite winning two of three presidential contests he’s entered.

Republican Pushback Emerges

Not all Republicans embraced Trump’s call for nationalizing elections. Nebraska Representative Don Bacon, who represents a competitive swing district that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, publicly opposed the proposal.

“I opposed nationalizing elections when Speaker Pelosi wanted major changes to elections in all 50 states. I’ll oppose this now as well,” Bacon wrote on X. “I work w/the NE Gov & Unicameral to ensure we have secure elections where every citizen’s vote counts. This is what the Constitution calls for.”

Former Representative Justin Amash, who describes himself as a libertarian Republican constitutional conservative, warned that nationalization would undermine election security rather than enhance it.

“Republicans should not, in fact, ‘nationalize the voting.’ If you were worried about election integrity before, this would make things infinitely worse,” Amash wrote. “Decentralized elections are one of the greatest protections against large-scale fraud and abuse.”

Minnesota Comments Draw Additional Criticism

During the Bongino interview, Trump made controversial remarks about Minnesota, a state that has voted Democratic in the last three presidential elections.

“There’s something in the water up there,” Trump told Bongino. “I love the state, I won the state three times, but got no credit for it.”

Trump then claimed Minnesota has “too many Somalis” and alleged they are “known for their theft.” The vast majority of Somalis in Minnesota arrived legally through refugee programs in the 1990s and are now U.S. citizens.

“If Republicans don’t get ’em out, you will never win another election,” Trump said, referring to undocumented immigrants more broadly.

White House Offers Limited Clarification

Asked for specifics on how and where Trump would seek to nationalize elections, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson did not elaborate on the president’s comments but referenced legislative priorities.

“President Trump cares deeply about the safety and security of our elections — that’s why he’s urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting,” Jackson said in a statement.

Context Of Broader Election Interference Efforts

Trump’s comments come amid an escalating Department of Justice campaign to force states to turn over voter rolls, alarming election officials nationwide. Last week, FBI agents seized hundreds of boxes of election materials from Fulton County, Georgia in connection with 2020 election investigations, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard present during the operation.

Trump reportedly spoke by cellphone with some FBI agents the day after the raid during a meeting they had with Gabbard, according to The New York Times.

Federal Courts Block Previous Election Overreach

Federal courts have already blocked Trump from unilaterally reshaping election rules. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last week blocked provisions of Trump’s March 2025 executive order requiring citizenship proof for voter registration.

“The Framers of our Constitution recognized that power over election rules could be abused, either to destroy the national government or to disempower the people from acting as a check on their elected representatives,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote.

“Accordingly, they entrusted this power to the parts of our government that they believed would be most responsive to the will of the people: first to the States, and then, in some instances, to Congress,” the judge continued.

Pro-Democracy Groups Sound Alarm

Veterans for Responsible Leadership, a pro-democracy advocacy group, criticized conservative Republicans for abandoning stated principles of limited government and local control.

“Trump now says we should nationalize voting. A big f*** you to everyone that still says they are a conservative and supports Trump,” the group wrote on X. “It was all a lie that they said they believe in small government and state and local control. The biggest hypocrites on earth.”

Previous Trump Statements On Federal Control

Trump previously suggested sweeping federal control over elections in an August 2025 social media post about an unsigned executive order.

“Remember, the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes,” Trump wrote. “They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do.”

That executive order was never signed, and the legal theory underlying it — that states act as federal agents in elections — contradicts established constitutional law and Supreme Court precedent.

2026 Midterms Loom

The controversy erupts as the United States prepares for 2026 midterm elections in November that will determine control of Congress. Trump has previously made comments suggesting the midterms should not be held, though the White House later dismissed those remarks as jokes.

In recent weeks, Trump has also suggested postponing or canceling the 2026 elections entirely, raising concerns among constitutional scholars and democracy advocates about his administration’s respect for electoral norms.

Does President Trump’s call to nationalize voting represent a legitimate election security concern, or does it mark an unprecedented attempt to centralize federal control over a constitutionally decentralized electoral system designed to prevent the very concentration of power he now seeks?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from NBC News’ coverage of Trump’s nationalization call, Newsweek’s reporting on the Bongino interview, Democracy Docket’s coverage of the proposal, Washington Examiner’s reporting on Bongino’s podcast return, U.S. News coverage of the Reuters report, Mediaite’s coverage of Trump’s comments to Bongino, The New Civil Rights Movement’s reporting, Bloomberg’s coverage, and The Washington Post’s reporting on the constitutional issues.

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