Do you know where your birth certificate is? How SAVE Act would change voter registration
Do you know where your birth certificate is? How SAVE Act would change voter registration
President Trump is threatening to withhold his signature on a bipartisan housing bill unless Senate Republicans pass the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote — but GOP leaders say they dont have the votes.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - It was a week of political fault lines — within both parties — as Congress, the White House, and voters sent signals about where American politics may be headed.
Dig deeper:
At the center of it all: President Trump's push to pass the SAVE Act, a bill that would require Americans to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Under the legislation, a driver's license would not be sufficient in most cases.
Voters would need to present a passport or birth certificate — documents that voters' rights groups estimate 21 million Americans do not have ready access to.
Trump has threatened to withhold his signature on a bipartisan housing bill until the SAVE Act passes.
But Senate Republicans say they simply don't have the votes.
What they're saying:
KTVU political analyst and UC Santa Cruz Political History lecturer, Nolan Higdon said the pressure tactic is unlikely to work.
"By holding up a housing bill doesn't seem to be the way," Higdon said. "It's clear that Congress has enough votes to pass a housing bill without him. The SAVE Act, on the other hand, does not."
Higdon said the resistance reflects a deeper frustration within the Republican Party.
"There's a handful, if not a lot of people in Congress who've now drawn the conclusion that President Trump wants to do things that benefit President Trump, but he really doesn't care about the party and the midterm elections," he said.
The other side:
On the Democratic side, three Democratic socialist candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept congressional primaries this week — a result that has some party operatives questioning whether the Democratic Party is fracturing.
Higdon said the wins reflect genuine discontent within the party, but stopped short of calling it a full-blown split.
"It does look like the energy is behind" the more progressive candidates, he said, adding that the movement would need to be "sustained in a lot more states" before it could be considered the start of something larger.
Republican defections:
Meanwhile, two prominent figures announced they are leaving the Republican Party altogether.
Tucker Carlson and former Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene both said this week they no longer identify as Republicans.
Higdon said the defections could have real consequences for the GOP in November.
"If and when Democrats win back the House or both Houses of Congress, they have a lot of investigation power," he said. "Republicans defecting like this could hurt Republicans in other races."
Higdon suggested both Carlson and Greene may be positioning themselves for a post-Trump political landscape, pointing to the former president's declining approval ratings and growing discontent within the MAGA movement.
As for voter turnout, Higdon predicted Republicans who leave the party are more likely to stay home than vote Democrat — a dynamic that could quietly shape the outcome of midterm races across the country.
The Source: Interview with UC Santa Cruz political history lecturer, Nolan Higdon; Associated Press