1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to publicly oppose President Trump's call for federal administration takeover of polls before the 2026 midterm elections and to condemn threats of voter intimidation by ICE agents at polling locations. Steve Bannon recently stated on his podcast that ICE would "surround the polls come November" and that they would "never again allow an election to be stolen." This rhetoric follows Democrat Taylor Rehmet's victory in a Texas state Senate special election, where she won by a 14.4-point margin in a district Trump had carried by 17 points in 2024. Rather than accepting this democratic outcome, administration allies are threatening to deploy federal agents to intimidate voters. These claims of widespread voter fraud by undocumented immigrants have been thoroughly debunked. In 2016, fact-checkers found that out of 23.5 million votes cast in 42 jurisdictions, only about 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting were referred for investigation. That represents 0.0001% of votes cast. Even House Speaker Mike Johnson admitted he cannot prove his claims of fraud, stating "It looks on its face to be fraudulent" but conceding "Can I prove that? No." This strategy echoes the 1898 Wilmington, North Carolina coup, where white supremacists used threats and violence to overthrow a legitimately elected biracial government, killing as many as 300 Black Americans. The perpetrators claimed they would never again be ruled by those they deemed illegitimate voters. Issuing similar threats before an election is designed to rally supporters and terrorize opponents into staying home. I ask that you publicly condemn any federal takeover of election administration, oppose deployment of ICE agents near polling places, and support legislation protecting voters from intimidation. Our democracy depends on free and fair elections where every eligible citizen can vote without fear.