(WWJ) Michigan's top Democrats are pushing back on President Donald Trump's suggestion to federalize Michigan's election.
The suggestions by the president included sending federal agents in to take control from local clerks. This would violate the U.S. Constitution, which says states are to run their own elections.
On Wednesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement that says in part, that "any attempt by the federal government to take over Michigan elections should be viewed as an attempt to take away Michiganders' constitutional right to vote. It won't happen on my watch".
Whitmer added: “Our nation has a long, proud history of running decentralized federal elections, a system designed by our founding fathers to protect our nation against anyone who would seek to take and hold power illegitimately or by force. Because of that system, America remains the longest-running representative democracy in the world. We set a powerful example that we ought to follow."
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel also weighed on Trump's assertion, saying: "Every single Michigan Republican should be calling out this disgusting behavior and demanding that Trump stay out of our elections—but they would rather let Trump walk all over them before bothering to stand up for Michiganders"
There are more than 1,600 Republican, Democratic and independent clerks across the state that work with the Secretary of State during elections.
President Trump’s claims about election fraud may have quieted down after he won the 2024 election, but they are making a comeback now, ahead of the midterm elections this November. He said this week that Republicans should even “take over” voting in more than a dozen states, including Michigan.
Trump explicitly called out Detroit as a "crooked" voting location where he believes the federal government should intervene.
Trump framed the proposed "takeover" as necessary to prevent noncitizen voting, a claim he has repeated despite a lack of evidence that this is a widespread problem — in Michigan or elsewhere. He argued that states are "agents of the federal government" and that if they "can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over."
Related
