California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday that President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to sue states to sow doubt about the midterm elections, and that California would continue to defend its election process.
The statement was posted from the governor’s press office account on X at 2:19 PM on Oct. 25, 2026. It read in full:
“Trump knows he’s at risk of losing political power.
That’s why he instructed the DOJ (unprecedented) to begin suing states — “red” and “blue” — to baselessly plant seeds of doubt about this next election.
California will not stop defending democracy.
Hardworking local election officials will carry out free and fair elections — like we have always done.”
The Report Behind the Post
The post linked an Oct. 24 Politico report that said the Justice Department asked a court to preemptively block Alaska’s Senate results if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses. It said the move stunned current and former election officials in both parties. Ben Ginsberg, a Republican election-law expert, called it a “desperation play” with no legal basis.
The report said the department has already sued nearly every state over access to voter files. It also cited a fight over Trump’s mail-voting restrictions that reached the Supreme Court, efforts to condition anti-terrorism funds on how states run elections, and threats to withhold election funding from states that refuse to change voter-registration forms.
The Alaska Race
Alaska’s Senate race pits Sullivan against Democrat Mary Peltola and is rated a toss-up. Two candidates named Dan Sullivan advanced from the August primary. Media reports said federal grand jury subpoenas have been issued in a probe of the second candidate, who denies being a plant. Sen. Sullivan has called that candidacy a sham.
The California Lawsuit
The Justice Department filed suit Oct. 15 in federal court in Los Angeles, naming California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan. It asks a judge to bar counting ballots from about 20,000 voters it says are potential noncitizens until citizenship is verified. California contests the evidence and has not been ordered to withhold any ballots.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said California mails ballots automatically to every active registered voter and said officials would undermine confidence if they failed to address the concerns. Weber said she had “serious doubts” about the allegations and asked for the data and methodology. Attorney General Rob Bonta said every count, recount and audit found no widespread fraud.
Newsom’s Prior Statements
On Oct. 15, Newsom called the suit a “sad, desperate attempt” by Trump to use a “politicized Justice Department” to suppress California voters three weeks before Election Day. He added that courts have made clear the federal government has no role in running state elections. Newsom wrote that California would “call out every authoritarian attempt to undermine our democracy.”
Newsom’s record on this issue predates October. A Reuters report said the Justice Department sued California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania in September 2025 for declining to hand over voter rolls with nonpublic data. The department said clean rolls are the foundation of free elections and that states refusing would face court.
Court Rulings and the 90-Day Rule
A federal judge ruled this month that the department unlawfully sought state voter rolls to cross-check them against an immigration database. The earlier California roll demands also failed in court. Federal law bars systematic removal of voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election.
Midterm Context
Polymarket listed Democrats at a 92% chance of winning the House and 66% for the Senate as of Sunday. Those figures are trader pricing, not forecasts, and the Alaska race is among those that could decide Senate control.