WASHINGTON — When Congress returns to Washington next week, Democrats will be on the defensive, rallying to kill the SAVE Act, a voting reform measure that party leaders say is a key part of President Donald Trump’s plan to seize control of elections.
“Oh, I think it's step one,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) told Raw Story. “Or step one, two, three, four — this is part of the plan.”
The SAVE Act would require voters to provide proof of citizenship, end mail-only voter registration, implement photo ID requirements in all 50 states and force new federally-mandated rules to purge noncitizens from state voter rolls.
“This has nothing to do with voter ID laws. This has nothing to do with the nonexistent problem of non-American citizens voting,” Clark said.
“It's all to do with voter suppression and rigging the election.”
‘They don’t want women to vote’
While the Senate is slated to take up the House-passed SAVE Act next week, the 2026 election is already under way.
In states like Texas, voters started casting ballots for Senate this Tuesday, including the highly anticipated Democratic primary between Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Texas state senator James Talarico, both rising stars of the party.
In Washington, the number three House Democrat, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), told Raw Story what’s “crazy about this now” is the GOP isn’t even trying to hide that the SAVE Act is an effort to impact 2026 primaries in spots like Texas, because if passed, the measure will take effect “immediately.”
“This is about them wanting to suppress votes in Texas, you know, in real-time right now,” Aguilar told Raw Story.
Aguilar and others say the measure’s requirement that voters produce a birth certificate, adoption papers, naturalization certificate, U.S. Passport, REAL ID or Tribal I.D. are onerous, especially for married people who have changed their last name.
A Pew Research study from 2023 showed more than 80 percent of married women take their spouse's last name. Critics point out the version of the SAVE Act that passed the U.S. House doesn’t allow voters to offer proof of name-change documentation.
Republicans “don't want women to vote,” Aguilar said. “They don't want people of color to vote. They don't want people to vote by mail. That's just kind of where they are, and it's unfortunate.”
‘It’s going to hurt Republican voters’
While almost all Democrats oppose the measure — only one House Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), supported it — many say it will actually hit Republicans harder.
“That is an unmitigated disaster for voters across America, Republicans as much as if not more than Democrats,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) told Raw Story.
“Wouldn't the SAVE Act codify Trump’s desire to nationalize elections?” Raw Story asked Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA).
“I don't think it'll do that,” Bera said. “But what it will do is, it'll make it really hard for folks to register to vote.
“I also think it's going to hurt Republican voters, right? Because the proof of citizenship usually is your birth certificate or passport. Probably more Democrats have passports than Republicans, right?”
Bera pointed to GOP efforts to end vote by mail since Donald Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden in 2020.
“That backfired on Trump as well, because Republican voters used to be better vote-by-mail voters, then all of a sudden he said don't do it, and then that helped us in the election.
“You win or lose elections based on your ideas and so forth, and, you know, Trump ran on a lot of the right things, I think, but he's clearly delivering the wrong messages. So it's an opportunity for us to correct that record.”
‘I trust Trump to be devious’
Democrats continue rallying the base around efforts to derail the SAVE Act, in part because of the unprecedented efforts Trump has already made to stay in power — as witnessed most viscerally on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters attacked Congress itself.
“Calling for nationalization is a terrible idea, a dangerous idea and a, very frankly, undemocratic idea,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told Raw Story. “And for a president who refuses to accept the court's judgments as to the validity of the election, a very scary alternative.
“And he told people to come down here, take over the Capitol, commit insurrection and treason so he could win the election. Any suggestions he makes about elections are without foundation or grounds or good intent.”
That’s why Democrats aren’t merely shrugging the SAVE Act off as politics-as-unusual.
“I trust Trump to be devious, smart,” Garamendi said, “and screw up this entire country.”
While Democratic leaders see the Constitution as on their side, they remain skeptical of the conservative Supreme Court.
“Do you trust the judiciary as the last backstop?” Raw Story asked House Whip Clark. “Or how nervous are you?
“We're going to keep pressing our case in courts and here [at the Capitol], but the SAVE Act isn't passed,” Clark said, “And we're going to make sure it doesn't get there.”
