Trump reverses course, begs Republicans to vote by mail as Democrats’ chances of reaching Congress improve

President Donald Trump took a break this weekend from his relentless and baseless accusations about mail-in voting fraud to remind his own supporters to vote by mail in this year’s midterm elections.

In an article published Saturday by Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Republicans must WIN the 2026 midterm elections, and we must use all the appropriate tools – Whether you vote early, absentee, absentee or in person, we must ‘overwhelm’ the radical left Democrats with massive turnout! SO IMPORTANT – PLEASE GET OUT AND VOTE. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN NEW! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

This isn’t the first time Trump has flip-flopped on mail-in voting. Despite consistently claiming, without evidence, that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud, Trump has also encouraged his supporters to vote by mail in 2024. Trump himself frequently votes by mail.

Trump’s latest demand that Republicans vote — even by mail — comes as polls show Democrats’ chances of winning the House and Senate are improving. Ironically, Trump now wants Republicans to vote by mail even as their confidence in the U.S. Postal Service has plummeted, echoing Trump’s claims that mail-in ballots are more fraudulent.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to throw mail-in voting into chaos this year, blocking a plan that would have given the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) unprecedented authority to restrict and reject mail-in ballots.

Democrats tend to vote by mail more than Republicans. In 2024, 37% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans reported voting by mail, according to an analysis by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Election Data and Science Laboratory.

The Trump administration has provided no evidence that its restrictions on mail-in voting were necessary. But his unsubstantiated claims of mail-in voting fraud found two sympathetic auditors at the Supreme Court.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito endorsed the Trump administration’s attack on mail-in voting, concluding that “its implementation will also improve the visibility of the federal ballot to better detect voter fraud.” Justice Clarence Thomas joined the dissent.