Will Trump challenge the 2026 midterm election results?

State and local officials set the rules, register voters, run polling places, and count ballots. The Constitution assigns the manner of congressional elections to the states and Congress in Article I, Section 4, which reads: "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations." A president has no role in that clause. The Brennan Center states that "the president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration."

It depends on the state: each state names its own certifying authority. Under Texas Election Code 67.010 the Governor canvasses U.S. House returns, while in Michigan the Board of State Canvassers decides who was elected. In Texas, each county's commissioners court canvasses its returns between November 6 and November 14, 2026, and the Governor conducts the state canvass for a U.S. Representative between November 18 and December 3, 2026. In Alabama, the Governor is one of three members of the State Canvassing Board, with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General. In Arizona, the secretary of state canvasses in the presence of the governor and the attorney general on the third Monday after the general election, November 23, 2026, and then issues a signed certificate of election. In Florida, the Elections Canvassing Commission certifies statewide returns at 8 a.m. on the 14th day after the election.

A president's orders must rest on law. In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), the Supreme Court held that the power to issue an order "must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself," and read the duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" in Article II, Section 3 as an executing role, not a lawmaking one. No provision of federal law authorizes the federal government to take over the administration of a state's congressional election, and no federal official has authority to order a canvass stopped or resumed. There is no federal office with power to certify or decertify a state's House election returns; certification is performed by state canvassing authorities under state law.

In the hearing record, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro's written statement for his December 16, 2025 appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee warns generally that "the government is still not operating at a pace commensurate with the evolving, grave cybersecurity threats to the nation's security, economy". That statement does not mention CISA, elections or the midterms at all. Separately, Votebeat reported in January 2026 that in December Dodaro "warned senators that federal cybersecurity efforts were not receiving enough attention" and "expressed concern that CISA can't provide the assistance state and local election officials had come to expect heading into the midterms." That election framing comes from one outlet and is not in the prepared testimony, so it was most likely said in questioning.