Election Denialists Want Trump to Declare a ‘National Emergency’ During Midterms. The Idea Hasn’t Caught On.

Notable election denialists have urged President Donald Trump to declare a “national emergency” during 2026 US midterm elections, believing it would allow federal officials to sidestep laws that would otherwise prevent them from intervening in voting processes. While President Trump has openly flirted with the idea and met with some of its loudest proponents, analysis from Open Measures found that it has failed to catch on among his most fervent online supporters.

Election officials across the country have expressed fears that a national emergency declaration could be used to justify seizing ballot machines and dispatching immigration enforcement agents to polling places, among other similar proposals. Open Measures’ threat assessment ahead of 2026 midterms identified the potential of federal actions targeting voting processes as the largest variable in how threat actors may behave around Election Day.

‘National Emergency’ Narratives Have Largely Failed to Catch on in Pro-Trump Social Media Communities

To understand how online communities supportive of the Trump Administration have reacted to calls for a national emergency declaration during 2026 midterms, Open Measures used our platform to search for posts mentioning the subject across eight platforms we monitor that host pro-Trump user communities: 4chan, 8kun, Gab, Gettr, Rumble comments, Scored, Telegram, and Truth Socials.

For our analysis, we used a simple search string to identify posts discussing the upcoming midterm elections that were shared between Jan. 1 and Oct. 12 and included the term “emergency”:

(”emergency”) AND (midterm* OR election*)

Our search query identified nearly 14,000 posts across the eight platforms included in our analysis. Of those posts, about 43% appeared on Truth Social, a microblogging site owned by President Trump. The next-highest volume of posts appeared on Gab, Telegram, and Gettr.

We used Timeline to chart the weekly volume of posts matching our search query across the eight platforms and observed several activity spikes throughout 2026 before a general increase in volume that began in July. Surges in activity mostly appeared consistent across platforms, suggesting that interest in the subject of a national emergency during midterms corresponded with the topic’s related news coverage.

Caption: A Timeline chart shows the weekly volume of posts that mentioned the word “emergency” alongside terms related to 2026 midterm elections on eight social media platforms that host pro-Trump communities.

Using Research Assistant to identify recurring themes in the posts we identified, we affirmed that many of the spikes shown in the Timeline chart reflected instances where Trump discussed midterm elections in the context of national security. One of the largest spikes came after Trump delivered a primetime television address in which he shared misleading claims about foreign interference efforts in prior elections. A similar surge followed after Trump declined to rule out declaring a national security emergency during elections. Another came in September, after Trump renewed an executive order that allows for the US government to penalize countries suspected of attempting to compromise the integrity of US elections with economic sanctions.

While the volume of posts that discussed midterms and included the term “emergency” increased over recent months, Open Measures found that the number of posts discussing the subject paled in comparison to those discussing the SAVE America Act: a voter ID law that Trump has urged Republicans in US Congress to pass. Over the same period, users on the platforms we analyzed shared more than a quarter million posts mentioning the SAVE America Act – more than 18 times as many as those discussing an emergency around midterm elections.

Caption: A Timeline chart compares the weekly volume of posts that mentioned the SAVE America Act versus those that mentioned the word “emergency” alongside terms related to 2026 midterm elections on eight social media platforms that host dominant pro-Trump communities.

Our findings show that discussions of Trump declaring a national emergency during midterm elections have gained additional traction in recent months, though the idea has largely failed to catch on beyond fringe constituencies among the president’s online supporters.

Prominent Pro-Trump Figures Hype National Security Rhetoric Ahead of Midterms

A closer look at the posts our researchers identified found that prominent pro-Trump figures have advanced narratives that frame a potential Democratic victory in the midterms as a pressing national security issue, as well as narratives that the integrity of these elections could be compromised by foreign actors.

Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who has met with Trump, said in a Sept. 20 Truth Social post that “America’s most sensitive national security secrets will be handed straight to Islamic terrorists” if Democrats take control of the US House and Senate. “We can’t allow the Islamic communists to take over,” she added.

Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump’s national security advisor in 2017, wrote to Trump in a June 8 post on Truth Social that all elections were a “national security issue” and that Trump was the only person who could secure the integrity of US elections.

Benny Johnson, who helps lead the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, shared a Truth Social post on Aug. 11 that stated Trump had an “obligation to eradicate voter fraud” because “Election security is national security.”

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino shared a video in an Oct. 7 post on Truth Social featuring a CNN interview with Mahmoud Khalil, with a caption declaring the 2026 midterms a “national security election” and adding, “We CAN’T let these people win.”

Caption: Truth Social posts from notable pro-Trump commentators Laura Loomer, Michael Flynn, Benny Johnson, and Dan Bongino portray 2026 US midterms as a national security issue and encourage action.

Our Take

Our findings show that calls for Trump to declare a national security emergency during the 2026 midterms have not resonated with his online base the way other election-related issues, such as the SAVE America Act, have. Whether Trump will act on proposals to declare a national emergency remains to be seen, but so far, the figures pitching the idea have largely failed to excite the president’s online base with the idea.

Open Measures will be monitoring for potential risks to the 2026 midterms at a daily cadence in the weeks surrounding Election Day. Individuals and organizations interested in receiving our daily monitoring notes can request access using this form.