Defending Democracy with Marc Elias

With less than a week before the final midterm election ballots are cast, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias has been inundated with questions about what issues are putting him on alert. In this episode Marc outlines his top five concerns, from most immediate to most dire - including meddling by the Trump administration and the servile red state officials that seem willing to do anything to keep...

When reporters asked Attorney General Todd Blanche if the Justice Department might try to block states from certifying midterm results, he didn’t say no. “Of course there are scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically — some doomsday scenario,” he said. The federal government has no power over state certification. But this administration keeps leaving the door open to interfering with...

On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, hours before the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took the stage at Donald Trump’s rally and told the crowd, “We will not quit fighting.” Now he’s running for the U.S. Senate. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias walks through Paxton’s record of attacking free and fair elections. He sued to throw out the results in four states at the U.S....

Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers was caught on leaked audio telling county Republicans he wants the Republican National Committee to send retired or off-duty police officers to polling places in Detroit — and only Detroit — as poll watchers. “All you got to do is open your jacket and you see the badge on the belt,” he said. As Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias explains, this isn't a...

On the first day of early voting in Texas, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney stood next to a Bible and a framed photo of Donald Trump and warned election officials: “I will hunt you down and prosecute you.” Days earlier, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official told California election officials they could face criminal charges for counting about 20,000 ballots the administration calls “likely non-ci...

With two weeks until the midterms, Donald Trump’s attacks on our elections have reached a dangerous new stage. Last week, the Department of Justice demanded that California and Los Angeles County review about 20,000 voters it claims may not be citizens. It gave officials 48 hours, then sued. By Friday, the DOJ’s No. 2 official was warning that election workers who count those ballots could face cr...

The Trump Justice Department is threatening California election officials with criminal prosecution over how they handle ballots. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the DOJ’s latest threats, what they mean for election officials and the potential implications for the 2026 midterms.

In a major escalation three weeks before Election Day, Trump’s DOJ is in court trying to stop 20,000 votes from being counted. But where did this list come from, and what does DOJ plan to do with it? The answers are in DOJ’s own lawsuit, and they’re more alarming than you’d think. Democrats are already warning in court that this could be a first step toward federal agents seizing ballots. Meanwhil...

Early voting has already started, but that hasn't stopped the Trump administration from meddling in elections and continuing to suppress the vote. DOJ just dropped a list of voters it wants disqualified and has threatened legal action against a key state in the midterms if they don't comply with their ridiculous demands. Join Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias LIVE as he breaks it down. T...

Over the weekend, a federal judge issued an injunction barring Trump's self-aggrandizing, illegally taxpayer-funded ads from being aired, but they continued to play anyway. The Trump administration has made a habit of ignoring court orders and blowing through deadlines and giving lame excuses. The reason they are able to continue doing so is because the federal judiciary has yet to hold them t...

Donald Trump has attacked Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias personally for years, because he knows Marc is a bulwark against his illegitimate claims of election fraud. The truth is Trump has racked up losses in court, including in his 2022 lawsuit against Marc and Hilary Clinton, who he accused of racketeering. A federal judge not only dismissed that case, but sanctioned Trump and his legal team...

Trump's most fervent election denier allies are begging him to take over voting machines and ballots just weeks before the midterms. Join Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias LIVE as he breaks it down. Tina Peters’ lawyer says her plan is to grab ballots “as soon as the machine spits them through.” In 2020, Trump’s own lawyers stopped a plan to seize machines. But who is stopping them this time...

ICE never wanted you to see these: internal government documents obtained by legal nonprofit Democracy Forward show that Homeland Security Investigations has been probing nonpartisan groups that help register citizens to vote in battleground states. They even went so far as to outline a plan to use undercover agents to target these nonprofits for registering "illegal alien" voters, thoug...

Less than 30 days before the midterms, Trump told a reporter that anyone looking for mail voting fraud should "start off by taking a look at California." Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias explains the real reason Trump is targeting the state: its 52 congressional seats could decide control of the House. Because California counts mail ballots for days after the election, Trump will have...

When asked earlier this year if he regretted not seizing voting machines and ballots after the 2020 election, Donald Trump said, "Well, I should have." Now he's telling us exactly what he plans to do in this year's midterms, and this time, we should believe him. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias explains why the biggest threat may come after the polls close and what you can do...

Weeks before the midterms, election deniers on Georgia's election board quietly asked Trump's DOJ to intervene. Their letter is full of excuses: attacks on the state's voting machines, demands for last-minute software changes and unsubstantiated claims of "altered records." Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the excuses in the letter and why it fits Trump's l...

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Trump administration can once again use a flawed database to help Republicans purge eligible voters from the rolls, just weeks before the midterms. Some are calling it a partial win. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias sees a warning. He breaks down the footnote in the majority opinion that leaves the door open, the upcoming Supreme Court case that could sla...

Have you ever wondered why bombastic right-wing content seems to travel further and faster on social media than tempered analysis and commentary? Podcaster and author David Pakman joins Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias to discuss how the algorithms that control what you see on YouTube and other platforms favor content that targets "scapegoats and enemies with pithy language," and why...

Democrats just sued to block Trump's latest voter intimidation efforts. The administration has been suggesting for months that they will deploy armed federal agents at polling places, even though federal law says it's a crime. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the lawsuit filed by Democratic leaders and explains why the threat matters even if Trump loses in court. The threat...

For the 25th consecutive time, Donald Trump's Department of Justice has lost its case attempting to access sensitive voter data. With just over 40 days left until Election Day, Americans are thinking about how to afford the skyrocketing cost of living – but Donald Trump's only focus is disenfranchising voters in order to tilt the scales in his favor. In this video, Democracy Docket founder...

Everywhere Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias goes, he's asked two questions: what is Trump going to do next, and is he worried? The first one is easy, because Trump has said, over and over, that he plans to seize control of vote counting in the 2026 midterms. The second one is harder — and it's the one that's been keeping him up at night.

Donald Trump just did something extraordinary on stage at the RNC convention: he made Republicans raise their right hand and pledge to him personally — then pledge that they're going to "cheat like hell," whether they're registered to vote or not. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down why this moment matters and why it confirms what he's been warning for months: Tru...

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. — appointed by Donald Trump — just blocked the U.S. Postal Service's new mail-in voting rule, delivering another major setback to the administration's effort to restrict how Americans vote just 50 days before the midterms. Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias breaks down the ruling in DSCC v. Trump, handed down late Sunday by Judge Carl Nichols. This ruli...

Donald Trump's Department of Justice just admitted, in its own words, what we have been saying for months: the U.S. Postal Service's new mail-in ballot rule could strip millions of Americans of their ability to vote by mail. In a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, the DOJ acknowledged there is a "grave risk" that states won't be ready to comply if the rule takes effect...

[11:35 AM]Less than two months before Election Day, Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias lays out Donald Trump's blueprint to rig the 2026 midterms. An executive order could put the U.S. Postal Service in charge of deciding whether mail-in ballots get delivered at all. The Department of Justice has lost 23 straight lawsuits trying to seize state voter data. A rule change could disenfranchise th...