White House removes Election Assistance Commission members before U.S. midterms

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White House removes EAC members

Highlights

The White House fired Election Assistance Commission Democrats Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland by email Thursday, citing alignment with election security priorities and Supreme Court precedent.
Republican Commissioner Donald Palmer resigned in April, leaving the EAC largely vacant ahead of November midterms and raising bipartisan concerns over election oversight capacity.
Democrats and voting rights advocates accuse the administration of undermining the commission's independence, linking the move to broader GOP efforts, including the SAVE America Act and increased restrictions on voting.

Commission shake-up and legal rationale

As first reported by CNBC, citing VoteBeat, two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, are fired by email on Thursday, while Christy McComick is allowed to resign. A White House official confirms the removals to CNBC on Friday and says the president has the authority to remove officials who are not fully aligned with the administration's election security priorities.

The same official says the Supreme Court's late-June ruling on Trump's authority to dismiss Federal Trade Commissioner Louise Slaughter provides the precedent for the decision. The White House argues that the president, as head of the executive branch, retains the right to remove individuals tied to the task of securing U.S. elections and ensuring that every legal vote is counted.

A fourth commissioner, Republican Donald Palmer, voluntarily leaves the commission in April to take a job at the Heritage Foundation. His departure leaves the agency further depleted ahead of the November vote.

Political fallout ahead of November voting

Democrats cast the removals as a direct threat to the independence of the agency, which helps administer election funds and certifies voting systems. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says on X that dismissing the bipartisan commission's remaining members months before the midterms is an attempt to seize control of elections before ballots are cast.

Voting rights advocates and Democratic officials say the action fits a broader pattern as Trump continues to claim the 2020 election is stolen from him. He is also pushing the SAVE America Act, a contentious election bill that would impose stricter voter identification rules and require proof of citizenship to vote, while continuing attacks on mail voting and raising the idea that Republicans should nationalize elections.

Our earlier article examined how President Trump has been using Wall Street’s rise as a scoreboard for his second-term economic narrative, alongside policies aimed at expanding household participation in markets. We noted that despite a major jump in U.S. equities, the gains are unevenly distributed across households, and Trump’s own disclosures underscored his substantial market exposure.

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