Right-wing media; SAVE America Act

Molly Butler / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Right-wing media use the SAVE America Act to undermine the upcoming midterm elections

Right-wing pundits have falsely claimed Democrats oppose the SAVE America Act because they are “cheating” and “want the illegals to be able to vote”

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Sage Hodil

Published

  • Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, right-wing media are using the controversial SAVE America Act to undermine election integrity by claiming Democrats oppose the bill because they “want to steal elections” and “want the illegals to be able to vote.” This is the latest iteration of a longstanding pattern in which right-wing media cast doubt on elections as Americans prepare to cast their votes. 

    For example, in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, right-wing media were peddling election conspiracy theories and insisting the 2020 election was rigged. Ahead of the 2024 election cycle, right-wing media deployed that same playbook, spreading false information about undocumented immigrants voting, accusing Democrats of rigging the system, and attempting to undermine the validity of mail-in voting. 

    As the 2026 midterm elections approach, right-wing media figures are yet again claiming that Democrats are trying to cheat and want undocumented immigrants to vote, even though instances of noncitizen voting are vanishingly rare. Still, right-wing media figures have advocated for Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence at polling locations, President Donald Trump to declare a “national emergency” to enforce his preferred election policies, and Congress to pass the SAVE Act (since modified and rebranded as the SAVE America Act). 

    Though the SAVE America Act appears to be doomed in the Senate, the controversial bill, which aims to rewrite election laws nationwide, would, if passed, create new barriers for people attempting to register to vote by requiring them to provide documents such as a passport or birth certificate as proof of citizenship. But as the Brennan Center for Justice points out, millions of citizens lack access to these documents, and “roughly half of Americans don’t even have a passport.” As an example of the potential effects, the Bipartisan Policy Center examined a similar law requiring proof of citizenship passed in Kansas and found the law prevented roughly 12% of applicants from registering to vote. The SAVE America Act could also place additional burdens on married women who have changed their last name from the one that appears on their birth certificate. 

    Nonetheless, right-wing media have been using the bill to sell a false narrative that Democrats have “nefarious intentions” and are “petrified about having safe and secure elections” because “they want the illegals to be able to vote.”

    • War Room host Steve Bannon said “we have to codify” the SAVE America Act “to stop the Democrats with the illegal aliens stealing the 2026 midterm.” Bannon also threatened, “If Thune cannot deliver this week on these basics about not allowing them to steal elections, why is he not removed as a leader of the Senate?” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 2/3/26] 
    • Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed that when Democrats “fight this hard” against the bill, “you know they’re cheating” in elections. Watters then argued that it’s “logical” to require voter ID after you “poured 20 million foreigners into the United States.” [Fox News, The Five, 2/4/26] 
    • On his radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed the “only reason I can think” Democrats “don't want voter IDs, signature verification” is because they have “nefarious intentions.” Hannity continued, suggesting Democrats must not “want honest elections with integrity so everyone can have confidence in the results.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 2/6/26]
    • QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott Presler: “The Democrats are petrified about having safe and secure elections because they know that our Congress and our Senate would look much different today if we had secure voting.” Presler: “Having a trust me, bro, election system in Minnesota is the reason why it's been blue even since Mondale.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 2/6/26; Media Matters, 8/23/21]
    • Presler later commented on Fox News: “When Sen. Chuck Schumer says that tens of millions of Americans will be removed from the voter rolls, did he say the quiet part out loud? Did he allude to the fact that perhaps tens of millions of noncitizens are on the voter rolls?” He added, “Anyone that is only for Americans being registered to vote cannot be against the SAVE America Act.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 3/11/26] 
    • Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer said “there’s no logic” for Democrats’ opposition to the bill “other than they’re working so hard to let anybody vote without knowing if they’re a citizen or not.” Fleischer then claimed noncitizen voting is “the perfect crime” because “no one will catch you.” [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 2/11/26] 
    • Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones claimed Democrats oppose the bill because “they want the illegals to be able to vote.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/20/26] 
    • Fox News host Will Cain claimed Democrats “benefit from having insecure voting rolls, they benefit from the potentiality of illegals voting in American elections.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 3/11/26] 
    • Newsmax host Rob Finnerty claimed, “Democrats don’t want the SAVE Act to pass because if it does, people who aren't legally allowed to vote in our elections will not be able to vote in our elections anymore.” Finnerty also characterized the Democratic party as “a party built around illegal aliens and dead people voting.” [Newsmax, Finnerty, 3/12/26] 
    • On Newsmax, actor Dean Cain said “there's no reason in the world” for Democrats to “oppose the SAVE Act, other than it will stop them from being able to cheat.” [Newsmax, Ed Henry The Big Take, 3/6/26] 
    • On Newsmax, The Federalist’s Ben Weingarten suggested that it’s incredibly easy to cheat in elections today and claimed Democrats have been “normalizing the idea that noncitizens should be able to vote.” Weingarten attacked Democrats for “gaslighting” and spreading “propaganda” about the SAVE America Act and stated, “Americans want clean voter rolls and clean elections where it's easy to vote and incredibly hard to cheat. And we have the opposite today.” [Newsmax, The National Report, 3/11/26] 
    • Fox contributor Newt Gingrich claimed Democrats oppose the bill “because they want to steal elections.” Gingrich continued, “They want to have the ability to vote people who aren't legal or people who are dead.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 3/19/26]
    • Trump ally and right-wing podcaster Roger Stone: “SAVE America Act Hits the Achilles Heel of Democrats’ Fraud Scheme.” Wrote Stone, “There is only one reason for Democrats and far-left special interest groups to oppose the SAVE America Act: because they want to enable fraud. They know that loosening the system allows them to essentially stuff the ballot box. The illegals who are still floating around in this country by the millions can exploit these loopholes.” [Substack, 3/4/26]