Some supporters of President Donald Trump are urging him to take control of elections or even declare martial law if they believe the 2026 midterm elections could be affected by fraud.
Why some Trump allies want him to act
Attorney Peter Ticktin, who went to military school with Trump as a teenager, is among the outside advisors urging him to seize control of federal elections this fall, according to The Atlantic.
Ticktin helped Trump sue Hillary Clinton in 2022. This year, he also pushed Trump to seek a pardon for Tina Peters, a former Colorado clerk who was convicted in a case involving tampering with election equipment.
According to The Atlantic, Ticktin sees three possible outcomes for the elections this November. He does not believe there will be a smooth election because he claims, without evidence, that Democrats already cheated in the primaries. The second possibility, according to him, is that Trump takes action before the election to prevent cheating. The third is that Trump declares martial law around November 3.
“Either martial law, or step aside,” Ticktin said about Trump's choices in that situation. When asked if he was worried about riots if Trump tried to overturn the election results, he said he was not concerned. "Believe me, our armed forces are a lot bigger than they are," he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Either martial law, or step aside,” Ticktin said about Trump's choices in that situation. When asked if he was worried about riots if Trump tried to overturn the election results, he said he was not concerned. "Believe me, our armed forces are a lot bigger than they are," he said.
{{/usCountry}}At a Las Vegas event, Ticktin also said he feared electronic voting equipment could shift votes from Republican candidates to Democrats. He said this could give Democrats control of Congress and allow them to impeach Trump and Vice President Vance.
"There's not another soul on this planet that understands what it is to be the president of the United States and have to leave office for a rigged election so someone else can step in and steal the country," he said.
He added, "He's not ever going to do that again," as per The Atlantic.
Trump's own past comments and moves
Trump has already pushed for more federal control over elections, even though the Constitution puts them mainly with states.
In February, he said Republicans should nationalize voting in at least 15 places.
In August, host Wayne Allyn Root pushed Trump to declare a "national-security emergency" for voter ID and citizenship checks. Trump replied, “Let me just say that stranger things have happened, okay? I'll leave it at that.”
At the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Trump again falsely claimed he won the 2020 election and sarcastically told supporters to "cheat like hell" in the coming elections.
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Inside the ‘Storm Summit’ in Las Vegas
Ticktin, Tina Peters, and Root operate mostly through right-wing platforms like Rumble, separate from the official White House elections group. They spoke at a "Storm Summit" event in Las Vegas.
Root said the election could be overturned if Trump declares a national emergency, but experts disagree. Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center said, “There seems to be a wild misperception on the part of some Trump allies that an emergency declaration allows the president to do anything he wants. It is not a blank check.”
Peters, sentenced to nearly nine years in prison in 2024, said MAGA supporters are frustrated: “They can't trust elections- they've seen too much... We don't have a lot of time to fix this.” Her message to the president: “Listen to the people outside of the administration.”