Donald Trump urges Republicans to vote by mail in 2026 midterms

Donald Trump has urged Republican supporters to vote by mail in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, marking a sharp pivot from his long-standing claims that mail-in ballots are inherently fraudulent.

Writing on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump told his followers that the party must use "every appropriate tool" to win. "Whether you vote early, absentee, by mail, or in-person, we must ‘swamp’ the Radical Left Dumocrats with massive turnout!" the post read.

The sudden intervention comes at a sensitive moment for the Republican party. Recent polling shows that the Democrats' prospects of winning control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate are improving. With control of Congress hanging in the balance, Trump appears to be shifting strategy to ensure his base does not sit out the election.

The move is a direct contradiction of Trump's years-long rhetoric. He has consistently blamed mail-in voting for his political setbacks, claiming without evidence that the system is rife with abuse. Yet the tension in his position is nothing new. Trump himself has frequently voted by mail in past elections, and he briefly urged his supporters to use mail-in ballots during his 2024 presidential campaign before returning to his usual criticisms.

This latest call to action also comes in the wake of a significant legal defeat for his administration. Last month, the US Supreme Court rejected a White House initiative that would have given the US Postal Service unprecedented powers to restrict and reject mail ballots. The administration argued the policy was designed to prevent fraud, but critics saw it as an attempt to disrupt voting procedures ahead of the midterms.

Only two conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, supported the administration's efforts. In a dissenting opinion, Alito wrote that the plan would "enhance the visibility of Federal Ballot Mail" and make it easier to detect fraud.

Trump now faces the challenge of convincing a Republican electorate that has grown deeply suspicious of mail-in voting—largely because of his own warnings. His attacks have driven down trust in the postal system among his supporters, creating an obstacle to the high turnout he now says is vital.

Statistically, the partisan divide on mail-in voting is stark. An analysis by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Election Data and Science Lab found that during the 2024 election, 37 per cent of Democrats cast their ballots by mail, compared to just 24 per cent of Republicans. By telling his supporters to use mail-in voting, Trump is trying to close a gap that could decide who controls Washington.