WATCH: Padilla: “It’s not just a voter ID bill. It’s a bill, and the timing is curious, that seeks to create chaos and confusion over vote by mail and absentee voting. . . . You would think that [Trump] or we could be spending more time on trying to bring down costs for working families.”

September 24, 2026 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Alex Padila (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, once again took to the Senate floor to lead his colleagues in defeating Republicans’ attempts to pass parts of the SAVE Act voter suppression bill after the 2026 midterm election has already begun. Padilla opposed Senator Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) efforts to advance Senator Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) MAGA voter ID bill, S. 5271, which consists of a provision of the SAVE Act that would require eligible voters to provide specific types of photo identification when voting, including in their mail and absentee ballots, threatening to violate the right to a secret ballot and cause chaos in an election where mail ballots are already printed and voting is underway.

With Election Day now 41 days away, Padilla highlighted the deliberate timing of Republicans’ attempts to advance the bill. Some eligible voters have already exercised their right to vote early, and Padilla emphasized the additional burden, especially for mail and absentee ballots, and chaos that would immediately follow if the voter ID bill passed.

“The 2026 midterm election has already begun — it’s in full swing,” said Senator Padilla. “So let’s not be fooled about this attempt to pass a piece of the SAVE Act. Number one, the substance. It’s not just a voter ID bill. It’s a bill, and the timing is curious, that seeks to create chaos and confusion over vote by mail and absentee voting. The other part is, indeed, the timing and its implications. Trying to change the rules, because this bill, if signed into law, would go immediately into effect, creates chaos in the middle of an election that’s already underway.”

Padilla sounded the alarm on President Trump’s efforts to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections and detailed the Supreme Court’s recent decision to block Trump’s vote-by-mail executive order’s directive that the U.S. Postal Service determine who is and is not allowed to receive ballots. He highlighted the bipartisan opposition to these burdensome provisions, with the Republican Lieutenant Governor of Utah, the state’s chief election officer, saying in March that this provision would be “violating our constitutional right to a secret ballot” and the Republican Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine vetoing a similar bill at the state level in June, calling the mail voting ID requirement “a significant burden.”

“All this talk about changing the rules around elections. You know, this Administration, including the president himself, has been trying nonstop to interfere and change the rules on the elections for a long time now, and those efforts have been successfully pushed back on,” continued Senator Padilla. “It’s a desperate attempt to hold on to power, because the writing is on the wall. Poll after poll, approval ratings, etc., show that Donald Trump is going to be in for a rough night this November, but it’s also an attempt to distract.”

Padilla raised significant concerns about Republicans’ continued fixation on passing this voter suppression bill and highlighted issues that working Americans are facing, such as the rising costs of groceries, healthcare, and gas. He emphasized that instead of focusing on voter ID, Republicans should instead focus on the affordability crisis that Trump has created through his unnecessary tariffs. Padilla concluded by trying to pass the End Trump’s Tariff Tax Act to undo Trump’s tariffs on U.S. imports. Republicans objected.

“President Trump promised that these tariffs would bring back manufacturing, make Americans more wealthy, and pay down the nation’s debt, create jobs, and lower prices for consumers. That sure sounded good, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. None of that has happened,” Senator Padilla concluded. “Instead of focusing on those issues, they are once again, taking precious time on the Senate floor and talking about unnecessary changes to how people should be able to vote or not vote – maybe that’s their ultimate objective – for an election that’s already underway. Just because your team is losing at halftime doesn’t mean you call timeout and change the rules, or change the referees trying to change the outcome.”

As Ranking Member of the Senate Rules Committee, which has oversight over federal elections, Padilla has led the charge opposing Trump’s overreaching anti-voter SAVE Act. Last month, Padilla led his Senate colleagues in once again defeating MAGA Republicans’ efforts to advance Husted’s voter ID bill. In June, Padilla led his Senate Democratic colleagues in defeating Republicans’ efforts to include the SAVE Act in their anti-immigrant reconciliation bill twice in one night. During the failed March 2026 “talking filibuster” attempt, Padilla took to the Senate floor four times as a leader in the Democratic opposition to the SAVE Act.

Video of Padilla’s remarks is available here.

Full transcript of Padilla’s remarks is available below:

Reserving the right to object, let me remind us all, colleagues, that we, as of today, are 41 days from the midterm elections, or, as I like to refer it – refer to it – as simply the last day to vote, because a lot of people in states across the country take advantage of their right and opportunity to vote early in person, like people in Virginia did beginning this last weekend.

Many people in states across the country, including my home state of California, exercise their right and option to vote by mail. Uh, I’ll get back to that in a minute. The point is, in a growing number of states, the midterm election is already underway. People in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Alabama are already receiving their ballots in the mail. In Virginia, South Dakota, Minnesota, Vermont, and Illinois, voters are already going to the polls to vote in person early. And in the next couple of weeks, additional states will begin – nine more states will have begun their early voting. And in my home state of California, ballots will be mailed to every registered voter in the state.

So again, the bottom line here is the 2026 midterm election has already begun. It’s in full swing. So let’s not be fooled about this attempt to pass a piece of the SAVE Act. Uh, number one, the substance. It’s not just a voter ID bill. It’s a bill, and the timing is curious, that seeks to create chaos and confusion over vote by mail and absentee voting.

The other part is, indeed, the timing and its implications. Trying to change the rules, because this bill, if signed into law, would go immediately into effect, creates chaos in the middle of an election that’s already underway.

But don’t just take my word for it. Let me quote the Republican Lieutenant Governor of Utah, who says that this, quote, “is violating our constitutional right to a secret ballot.” Why? Because the requirement to include a copy of your drivers license when you’re voting by mail undermines the sec – the notion of a secret ballot in America.

Let me quote the Republican governor of Ohio, who says that a very similar bill that reached his desk in the state of Ohio represented, quote, “a significant burden.” And again, it’s not just a potential or theoretical significant burden for some election sometime in the future. It would go into effect immediately, causing chaos and confusion and a burden for election administrators who wouldn’t even know how to begin to comply with this for an election that’s already underway.

Let me go even further, Mr. President, and reference the Supreme Court’s recent actions when they blocked President Trump’s executive order on vote by mail, and what he was trying to do, giving authority and direction to the United States Postal Service to determine which voters get their ballots and which don’t. Even Justice Kavanaugh, who I disagree with on much, but even Justice Kavanaugh said it was in part because changing the rules so close to an election, quote, “would be arbitrary and capricious.” That was a couple weeks ago that this ruling came out. If at that time the Supreme Court deemed it too close to an election, we’re even closer now. And so, again, not nearly the time to properly, responsibly implement, even if you agreed with this bad policy.

But let me make a case for what is really going on here. All this talk about changing the rules around elections. You know, this administration, including the president himself, has been trying nonstop to interfere and change the rules on the elections for a long time now, and those efforts have been successfully pushed back on.

I expect him to continue these threats and attempts, not just between now and Election Day, probably on Election Day and post-Election Day, if history is any indicator. Why? I mean, first of all, it’s a desperate attempt to hold on to power, because the writing is on the wall. Poll after poll, approval ratings, et cetera, show that Donald Trump is going to be in for a rough night this November, but it’s also an attempt to distract.

You would think that he or we could be spending more time on trying to bring down costs for working families. But no, for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized war in Iran, the price on everything is not just not going down – it keeps going up. The price of gas that people put into their passenger cars to get to and from work, or wherever they need to go. The cost of diesel is also at record levels and being passed on to consumers in terms of increased costs on everything else: groceries, clothing, consumer electronics, and more. The threat to the economy is so bad that the Federal Reserve has not only not lowered interest rates, as Donald Trump has practically demanded, they’ve taken a recent step to increase interest rates for the first time in three years to try to rein in inflation.

So nothing’s getting cheaper, nothing’s getting easier. And a recent report showed that, from the administration’s tariffs, again, the war in Iran, the trade wars that are unnecessary, and the bad economic decisions are taking a toll on American families. $4,200 per household in increased costs because of higher prices. And now the president has once again threatened our Canadian neighbors with endless tariffs.

Look at healthcare. The average cost of employer-provided health care is expected to increase by at least 11%. What happened to the so-called Liberation Day of last April? President Trump promised that these tariffs would bring back manufacturing, make Americans more wealthy, and pay down the nation’s debt, create jobs, and lower prices for consumers. That sure sounded good, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. None of that has happened. Actually, the exact opposite has come to bear.

But again, instead of focusing on those issues, they are once again, taking precious time on the Senate floor and talking about unnecessary changes to how people should be able to vote or not vote – maybe that’s their ultimate objective – for an election that’s already underway. Just because your team is losing at halftime doesn’t mean you call timeout and change the rules, or change the referees trying to change the outcome.

So let’s dispense with this measure and get back to the real work at hand.

So, Mr. President, I would therefore ask the Senator to modify his request, so that instead of S. 5271, and notwithstanding Rule 22, the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of S. 5390, the End Trump’s Tariff Tax Act, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration, and further, that the bill be considered, read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered, made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Source: Senator Alex Padilla