1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

You need to go on record now, before the 2026 midterms, committing to defend the election process against any attempt to suspend or nullify it — regardless of what crisis is invoked as justification. Historian Timothy Snyder has laid out the playbook in detail: a president facing decisive electoral defeat may manufacture or exploit a national emergency to cancel elections and seize permanent power. That warning deserves a direct legislative response, not silence. The specific scenarios are not abstract. A foreign attack — real or staged — used to declare a state of emergency is, by Snyder's analysis, the most viable path available. The proposed 50% defense budget increase looks less like strategy and more like a bribe to military officers. Meanwhile, principled senior commanders are being purged by Pete Hegseth during an active war. These are not coincidences — they are preparations. History is clear that these attempts succeed when institutions stay quiet and let ambiguity do the work. Speak up now. Introduce or co-sponsor legislation that explicitly prohibits the postponement or cancellation of federal elections under any executive emergency declaration. The time to draw that line is before the crisis, not after.