Washington Examiner investigations editor Sarah Bedford said Senate Democrats “don’t really have a cohesive argument” against the SAVE America Act.
Senate Democrats are speaking against the voter identification legislation that President Donald Trump and Republicans are pushing. Prominent senators, such as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), have previously opposed the bill, with Schumer describing it as “Jim Crow 2.0.”
On the Hugh Hewitt Show on Wednesday, host Hugh Hewitt asked Bedford how the claims made against the SAVE America Act would boost Democratic voters to oppose Republican lawmakers.
Bedford said these claims and their impact in the 2026 elections will depend on how much the Republican Party pushes for the SAVE America Act. She added that this bill only gained momentum to pass in recent years.
“But if you go point by point through most of the Democrats’ objections to the SAVE America Act, and we’ve done that at the Washington Examiner, most of them don’t stand up to scrutiny,” Bedford said. “This idea that married women, for example, won’t be able to register to vote if they’ve had their name changed legally.”
“That’s just not the case, and so Democrats don’t really have a cohesive argument against the SAVE Act, and that’s what Republicans are sort of banking on, why they wanted these open conversations on the floor of the U.S. Congress because it’s so difficult for Democrats to hold the line against something that’s so popular,” Bedford said.
Bedford also said it would be “great” if Senate leadership could engage in “a real debate” on the SAVE America Act while ending the Department of Homeland Security partial shutdown. She added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) bringing the SAVE America Act to the floor gives Republicans the chance to have Democrats explain their opposition, even if the bill does not have enough votes to pass.
LIBERTARIANS ALLOW DEMOCRATIC MINORITY TO HOLD THE COUNTRY HOSTAGE OVER SAVE ACT
The Senate began a dayslong debate over the SAVE America Act on Tuesday. Trump said earlier this month that he would not sign any other bills until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, giving an exception to DHS funding.
Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said Tuesday that Republicans giving up their talking filibuster on the SAVE America Act to pass DHS funding would be a “very short-term concession” that would give up “major reform” across the country.