Federal STATEMENTS on ELECTIONS
The Election Denier in Chief
President Trump is still fixated on false claims of election fraud.
States United Action tracked the president’s public statements about elections starting shortly after his reelection in 2024. Our analysis found an ongoing pattern of the president making baseless claims that undermine U.S. elections in the leadup to the 2026 midterms.
In April 2026, for example, Trump posted on Truth Social that the 2020 presidential election should be “permanently wiped from the books.” In June 2026, while California was still counting votes in a primary election, Trump posted eight messages over five days claiming the primary had been stolen from Republicans. In one of those messages, he said the United States had “the Most Dishonest Elections of any Country, anywhere in the World!”
None of this was true. Trump’s frequent claims of fraud have no basis in reality. U.S. election results are checked and certified by state and local election officials, following strict procedures under law. Trump has never produced evidence that a single election has been rigged.
The president cannot erase an election. But his perpetuation of false claims about elections is fueling efforts by his administration to change how elections are run.
This report examines 161 of Trump’s election-related public statements from Nov. 14, 2024, through June 30, 2026. These statements include public remarks, interviews, and social media posts.
Baseless claims of election fraud: Five headlines
Headline 1
When Trump talks about elections, he usually makes a false claim about fraud.
Roughly 6 in 10 of the president’s election-related statements we analyzed included an explicit claim that an election was stolen, rigged, or fraudulent. By the spring of 2026, as the midterm election came into view, that share climbed to 84%.
Headline 2
He continues to be fixated on his 2020 loss.
When the president talks about an election, he is more likely to refer to 2020 (32%) than 2024 (17%) or 2026 (18%). Statements that alleged fraud were most often about the 2020 election (40%).
Headline 3
He claims Republican losses are illegitimate.
When Republicans lose elections, even those held during his own presidency, Trump quickly declares those elections “RIGGED” or “STOLEN.” He did so after a Democratic-supported referendum passed in Virginia in April 2026 and again after Democrats won California primary elections in June 2026.
Headline 4
He has suggested canceling elections.
Three statements in 2026 crossed a line from claiming elections are unfair to suggesting they should be canceled or their results erased. For example, in January, the president said the country “shouldn’t even have an election.”
Headline 5
He proposes changing election rules without Congress or the states.
In March 2026, the president said there “will be voter I.D. for the midterm elections whether approved by Congress or not.” He also proposed that Republicans “take over the voting” in 15 places and refused to rule out sending federal immigration officers to polling locations. These were not empty threats: The Trump administration has seized ballots, demanded voter data from states, and dispatched a Justice Department prosecutor to oversee a vote count in California.
Below, we elaborate on each finding, with examples drawn from the statements themselves. We then provide our methodology.
1. When Trump talks about elections, he usually makes a false claim about fraud
of Trump’s election statements include an explicit claim of fraud, rigging, or theft, rising to 84% in the second quarter of 2026.
Roughly 6 in 10 of Trump’s statements about elections (96 of 161) contain an unfounded but explicit accusation that an election was rigged, stolen, or stuffed with fraudulent ballots. Fraud is the single most consistent theme in Trump’s election-related statements.
In addition, the percentage of Trump’s statements containing fraud allegations has changed over time. Trump’s election fraud claim rate dipped during the off-cycle election season in late 2025. But as the calendar flipped to 2026 and the midterms came into view, the percentage of Trump’s election statements containing claims of fraud increased. From April through June 2026, more than 80% of Trump’s election statements contained claims of fraud. As the public paid closer attention to elections, the president talked about them—and lied about them—more often.
Roughly 6 in 10 statements allege fraud, and the rate is intensifying
Fraud-allegation rate by quarter
2. Trump continues to be fixated on his 2020 loss
Our tracking began in mid-November 2024. Trump was president-elect or president for the entire period covered by this report. Yet he continues to talk about the presidential election he lost in 2020 to President Biden. Trump mentions the 2020 election in nearly a third of his election-related statements, compared with 17% that reference the 2024 election and 18% that reference the 2026 midterms. And he mentions the 2020 election in 40% of his election fraud claims.
Which election is Trump still talking about? 2020
Share of statements naming each election
-
1.2%
-
31.7%
-
16.8%
-
0.6%
-
18%
-
5%
-
13%
-
28.6%
Statements may reference more than one election, so shares sum to more than 100%.
Among Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election are that it was “hijacked,” “stolen,” and a “total FRAUD.” He repeated false claims about the 2020 election 17 times in the first six months of 2026.
In fact, the 2020 election results were verified by election officials in every state. In dozens of failed lawsuits, Trump and his allies provided no credible evidence of fraud or illegality. Trump’s own cybersecurity officials declared the 2020 election the most secure in U.S. history.
But Trump’s alleged grievances have not faded. Instead, he ignores the facts and continues to push lies and conspiracy theories, sowing doubt and undermining trust in the upcoming elections.
Biden was grossly incompetent, and the 2020 election was a total FRAUD! The evidence is MASSIVE and OVERWHELMING. A Special Prosecutor must be appointed. ”
The 2020 election was Stolen. We had a fake president for 4 years. Our country has yet to recover. ”
3. He claims Republican losses are illegitimate
As the 2026 midterms began to approach, Trump adopted a new tactic: He claimed that certain elections held during his own administration were fraudulent when Republican candidates lost.
For example, in April 2026, Virginia voters approved a redistricting measure favored by Democrats. The next morning, Trump posted:
A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA! All day long Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive “Mail In Ballot Drop!” Where have I heard that before — And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory! ”
Following the California primary election in June, while the state was still counting votes, Trump posted eight messages over four days, framing the results as a theft by Democrats before the results were even clear. When the Republican candidates he was defending lost their races, he posted that those losses were impossible.
The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. ”
Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had. 3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections! ”
Trump frames Republican wins as legitimate and Republican losses as evidence of fraud, regardless of when or where the elections take place.
4. He has suggested canceling elections
Three times in 2026, the president has gone beyond claiming elections are unfair and suggested that they should be canceled or the results nullified. In January, the president floated the idea of canceling elections and said separately that the country “shouldn’t even have an election.” In April, he said the 2020 result should be “wiped from the books.”
Besides the fact that federal law leaves no room for the president to cancel an election, these statements from a sitting president sow doubt about the integrity of U.S. elections and pose a unique threat to the rule of law. Trump previously made a similar suggestion about delaying the 2020 election. Despite having no authority or basis to cancel or delay elections, his repeated suggestion that he could or should do so continues to undermine public trust in elections.
When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election. ”
How we have to even run against these people—I won’t say cancel the election, they should cancel the election, because the fake news would say, “He wants the elections canceled. He’s a dictator.” They always call me a dictator. ”
5. He proposes changing election rules without Congress or the states.
Trump claims authority that he simply does not have to change election rules.
In March 2026, the president said there “will be voter I.D. for the midterm elections whether approved by Congress or not.” The month before, Trump suggested that Republicans should “take over the voting” in at least 15 unspecified locations.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the rules for federal elections—including who can vote, how ballots are cast, and what identification is required—are set by states, with Congress having authority over certain pieces. The president has no authority over how elections are run. Trump ignores the law when he makes these statements.
And they are not empty threats. Trump’s administration has seized state ballots, demanded voter data from states, interfered with their election systems, investigated individual voters and election administrators, and sent a prosecutor to oversee vote-counting.
ICE near polling places
In May 2026, Trump refused to rule out sending federal immigration agents to polling places. (Senior administration officials, including Trump’s former press secretary, former Homeland Security secretary, attorney general, and border czar have also endorsed the idea or refused to rule it out.) One week later, during early voting in the Texas primary, ICE agents swarmed a polling place parking lot before the county sheriff ordered them to leave.
Federal law prohibits troops or federal officers from interfering with elections or showing up at polling places in an official capacity. States have begun to push back, and Democrats have sued to force the administration to disclose its plans for the November 2026 election.
Federal investigations and seizures
Trump’s repeated false claims that elections are rigged have been followed by unprecedented efforts by the administration to seize voter information and open needless election investigations.
The Justice Department has demanded that states turn over their voter rolls, including voters’ sensitive personal information. Federal agencies have opened baseless election investigations, often focusing on Trump’s loss in 2020. The FBI seized 2020 election materials in Georgia, and FBI Director Kash Patel promised arrests tied to the 2020 election. Homeland Security and the Justice Department have sought or obtained voter records from several states.
Federal prosecutors at election facilities
After Trump’s false claims of a rigged California primary June 2026, the Trump Justice Department said it was pursuing “multiple” fraud investigations and sent a prosecutor to observe ballot processing in Los Angeles County. The department produced no evidence of fraud.
Our methodology
Statements we tracked
States United Action researchers identified and logged 161 public statements made on election-related topics by President Trump between Nov. 14, 2024, and June 30, 2026. Most (126) were posts on Trump’s Truth Social account. The rest (35) were remarks transcribed from press conferences, interviews, and public events.
Statements were collected if they were verbalized or posted by President Trump and touched on any aspect of elections (past, present, or future) during this period.
For each statement, we assigned categories for which election it was about, what it was about (fraud, election administration, legal cases, and other topics), whether it contained a fraud claim, who was being blamed, what action it called for, and what institutional remedy it demanded.
Coding the statements
We used Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT as independent coders to assign the statements we tracked to the categories we created. Each AI model was given identical instructions and the same codebook and scored every statement separately, assigning it to all relevant categories. When the two models agreed, we assigned the statement to a category; when they disagreed, an SUA researcher reviewed the statement and determined whether to assign it to the category in question.
The two coders agreed on an average of 95% of statements per category. A more conservative measure that adjusts for the agreement expected by chance (mean Cohen’s kappa) was 0.69. The two coders agreed 93% of the time on our most important measure of statements containing a fraud claim (with the more conservative measure of alignment at 0.85). Cohen’s kappa between the coders was lowest on categories containing very few statements.
Further Data
Every quoted statement is attributed by date and platform. Researchers and reporters wishing to inspect the underlying record, including the full text of every statement and how each was coded, can contact States United Action for access.