Republicans finally pushing back against 'problematic' signature Trump issue

President Donald Trump is struggling to get enough of his fellow Republicans behind a voter restriction bill to guarantee its passage.

“President Trump has an ultimatum for GOP senators: Get on board or else,” reported The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “The president wants Congress to pass strict new voting eligibility rules ahead of the midterm elections. But his crusade—which is seen as unlikely to succeed—is exposing deep fissures among Republicans as they clash over both tactics and policy.”

The Journal went on to quote a number of Senate Republicans who seem unwilling to support the SAVE America Act. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, for example, has made it clear that the bill’s stipulation requiring voters to show their IDs in person could hurt her constituents in Alaska.

It “can be daunting in Alaska” because thousands of people there are not connected to a road system, Murkowski explained in a February editorial. “Under this bill, registering to vote could mean purchasing plane tickets and securing lodging and transportation, at a personal cost of hundreds to thousands of dollars,” she wrote.

Similarly North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis explained in a statement last week that “I’m content with the safety and security of our elections” in his states and does not want to limit rural voters from participating in elections with mail-in ballot restrictions. Then there is West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who told the Journal that Trump’s bill is “problematic because a lot of people use mail in voting, and a lot of them are in rural areas such as mine.”

Montana Sen. Steve Daines also expressed reservations about the legislation, saying that “the total ban is a problem for me.” Even Maine Sen. Susan Collins, though supporting the bill, opposes removing the 60-vote threshold for eliminating a filibuster that will need to be used to stop Senate Democrats from thwarting the bill’s passage.

“The filibuster is an important protection for the rights of the minority party that requires senators to work together in the best interest of the country,” Collins told the Journal.

In addition to the aforementioned concerns expressed by these Republican senators, experts also worry that the SAVE Act would make it harder for married women, the elderly and military members stationed overseas to vote. Similarly people who simply do not possess a REAL ID or other photo ID for other reasons may find themselves unable to vote.

Trump is anticipating historic losses in the 2026 midterm elections in no small part because his tariff policies are hurting voters in their pocket books. Mona Charen, a conservative commentator for The Bulwark, acknowledged as much in a February editorial.

“Voters are rarely able to connect policy to outcomes, but they have done so in the case of tariffs,” Charen said. “Back in 2024, Americans were about equally divided on the question of trade, with some favoring higher tariffs and roughly similar numbers opting for lower tariffs. Experience has changed their views.”

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