Officials in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit this week vowed to defend local control of elections after President Donald Trump floated the idea that Republicans should "nationalize" elections, specifically calling out those three cities in later comments.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least — many, 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” the president said in a podcast appearance on Monday, raising alarm and prompting pushback from officials across the country.
According to Article 1 of the Constitution, “the times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof,” though the federal government can pass broad regulations for states to follow.
In Fulton County, Georgia, local officials were particularly incensed, as the president’s comments came just days after the FBI searched a Fulton County election hub, seeking records related to the 2020 presidential election. Trump has falsely claimed for years that the 2020 election in Georgia was “stolen” from him, despite the fact that former President Joe Biden won.
"I committed to the voters of Fulton County and the world, for that matter, that we will use every resource at our disposal to fight for their vote, and that we will fight, using all resources against those who seek to take over our elections," Robb Pitts, chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, vowed on Wednesday. Pitts' government body is responsible for selecting the chair of Fulton County's elections board.
"Our Constitution itself is at stake in this fight, I want to repeat, the Constitution is the law of the land. The constitution is not a suggestion," added Pitts, a Democrat.
Trump specifically pointed to Georgia in his remarks Monday, telling his former FBI deputy director, Dan Bongino, "We have states that are so crooked, and they’re counting votes — we have states that I won that show I didn’t win. Now you’re going see something in Georgia where they were able to get with a court order, the ballots, you’re going to see some interesting things."
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who is running for governor in 2026, dismissed Trump's claims as "outdated" in a statement.
"I urge lawmakers to focus on strengthening state administration of elections rather than rehashing the same outdated claims or worse — moving to federalize a core function of state government," said Raffensperger, in a statement laying out his own proposals for election reform.
On Wednesday, the president added to his remarks, telling NBC News in an interview, “I didn’t say ‘national,’ I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt.”
He added that he was specifically referring to Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia. All three cities have large Black populations, voted heavily against Trump in each of his presidential runs, and are population centers in swing states he lost in the 2020 election. Since then, Trump has made repeated claims about voter fraud in each place without evidence.
In Philadelphia, City Commissioner Lisa Deely dismissed the president's attacks on election administration in her city and others as "an effort to change the conversation" from topics that aren't favorable to him.
"We all know the President’s playbook by now. His remarks on elections are an effort to change the conversation from the fact that the federal government is killing American citizens in Minneapolis. We must be careful and keep our eyes on the ball," Deely said in a written statement. "Like how Minneapolis distracted from the Epstein Files and the rising cost of Obamacare, if his bombastic comments successfully become a distraction and the administration doubles down, then it will be concern.”
In Detroit, Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey defended the city's record of transparent and fair elections, saying in a statement, "Detroit has a history of fair and transparent election administration. Any move to take over Detroit elections would be partisan politics at its worst."
“Detroit stands on a firm record of fair and transparent elections. Our elections were fair and transparent before 2020, in 2020 and continue to be in every election since 2020," added Winfrey, who serves in a nonpartisan role.
Across the country, all 24 of the nation's Democratic governors also signed onto a statement pushing back on the president's proposal, calling it "undemocratic."
"President Trump’s threats to remove the ability of states to run their own elections is an undemocratic attempt to silence the American people who are rejecting his costly and divisive agenda," said the Democratic governors, led by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
And some national Republicans also pushed back on Trump’s calls for nationalizing elections, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday saying he is “not in favor“ of such a plan.
