California leaders have criticized Trump’s call to ‘make the election national’, saying they are ready to fight back

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s repeated calls to “nationalize” the election drew immediate opposition from California officials this week, who said they were ready to fight back if the federal government tried to control the state’s voting system.

“We’re going to win that on Day One,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta told The Times. “We would go to court and get an injunction within a few hours, because the US Constitution says that the states decide the time, place and method of elections, not the president.”

“We’re willing to do whatever we have to do in California,” said California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, whose office recently fought a Justice Department lawsuit seeking California voter registration and other sensitive voter information.

Both Bonta and Weber said their offices are closely watching any federal action that could affect voting in California, including efforts to seize election records, as the FBI recently did in Georgia, or direct the counting of mailed ballots, which Trump has falsely accused of being a major source of fraud.

Weber said California plays a big role in the nation and is “a place people want to hit,” including illegal court challenges to undermine the state’s vote after elections, but California has fought such challenges in the past and is ready to do it again.

“There is a team of lawyers already there, who are always prepared during our elections to call the courts to defend whatever we do,” he said. “Our election teams cross the T’s and point the I’s.

“We have lawyers ready to be deployed wherever there is a problem,” said Bonta, noting that his office is in contact with local election officials to ensure a quick response if necessary.

The standoff reflects a dramatic breakdown in trust and electoral cooperation that has existed between the country’s leaders and generations – and follows Trump’s dramatic doubling down after his first words about taking the election raised fears.

Trump has long suspected, without evidence and despite numerous independent reviews concluding to the contrary, that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He also alleged, without evidence, that millions of fraudulent votes were cast, including by non-citizen voters, and that green countries were looking for another way to gain political advantage.

Last week, the Justice Department acted on those claims by raiding a Fulton County, Ga., polling place and seizing 2020 ballots. The department has also sued states, including California, over their voter rolls, and is defending Trump’s executive order that seeks to end mail-in voting and add new proof of citizenship requirements to register to vote, which California and other states have sued to block.

On Monday, Trump stepped up his pressure campaign by saying on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast that Republicans should “take the polls in at least 15 states,” saying poor turnout in what he called “trick states” is hurting his party. “Republicans should do national voting.”

On Tuesday morning, Caroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to try to deflect Trump’s comments, saying she was referring to the SAVE Act, a measure pushed by Republicans in Congress to include Trump’s requirements for proof of citizenship. However, Trump doubled down later that day, telling reporters that if states “can’t legally and honestly count the votes, someone else has to.”

Bonta said Trump’s comments were a big step up, not just confusion: “We always knew they were going to come after us with something, so this is confirmation of that — and maybe they’re getting closer.”

Bonta said he will be watching especially for races in swing congressional districts, which can play a role in determining control of Congress and thus legislative challenges.

“The strategy of going after California doesn’t make sense unless you go after a few congressional seats that you think will make a difference in the balance of power in the House,” Bonta said.

California Democrats in Congress have insisted that the state’s elections are safe and reliable, but have also begun to express unease about interference in the upcoming election by the administration.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) said on “Meet the Press” last week that he believes the administration will try to use “every tool in their toolbox to try to disrupt,” but said the American people “will win by having a caucus at the polls.”

California Sen. Adam Schiff this week said recent actions by the Trump administration — including the Fulton County raid, in which Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard put Trump on the phone with agents — were “wrong” and issued “striking bells about their willingness to interfere in the next election.”

Democrats have called on their Republican colleagues to help push back against such disruptions.

“When he says we should have a general election and the Republicans should take over, and you don’t see? What’s going on here?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said Tuesday. “This is a way that has destroyed democracy, and our democracy is deep and strong, but it needs – and allows – resistance to these things. Verbal opposition, electoral resistance. Where are you?”

Some Republicans have expressed their disagreement with Trump. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (RS.D.) said Tuesday that he “supports only citizens voting and showing ID at the polls,” but he is “not in favor of federalizing elections,” which he called a “constitutional issue.”

“I strongly believe in decentralized and distributed power. And I think it’s harder to hack 50 electoral systems than to hack one,” he said.

However, some Republican leaders have discussed Trump’s skepticism about government-run elections. House Majority Leader Mike Johnson (R-La.), for example, focused on California’s system of counting mail-in ballots in the days following an election, questioning why such counting led to Republican leads in House races being “dramatically eroded to the point where their lead was lost.”

“It looks on the face of it like fraud. Can I prove it? No, because it happened so far upstream,” Johnson said. “But we need more trust from the American people in the electoral process.”

Election experts expressed dismay at Johnson’s comments, calling them baseless and irrational. The fact that leading candidates can fall behind as most votes are counted is not magic but math, they say – and Democrats agree.

“Speaker Johnson seems confused, so let me break it down. California elections are safe and secure. The point of elections is to make sure *all* valid votes are counted, not a quick count,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) wrote in X. “We don’t just stop as we are. It’s called democracy.”

Democrats also expressed concern that the administration could use the US Postal Service to interfere with the counting of incoming ballots. They raised questions specifically about a rule issued by the Postal Service last December that mandates that mail be postmarked the day it is processed by the USPS, instead of the day it is received — which could affect mail-in ballots in places like California, where ballots must be postmarked on Election Day to be counted.

“Electoral officials are concerned and are warning that this change could ultimately lead to the rejection of high-profile ballots,” Senate Democrats wrote to US Postmaster General David Steiner last month.

Some experts and state officials said voters should plan to vote early, and consider dropping off their ballots in state drop-off boxes or taking them directly to polling stations.