Trump is set to deliver an election-focused national address tonight. Here's what to know

US President Donald Trump speaks at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on July 15, 2026.

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump has signaled he plans to raise alleged issues with U.S. elections during a primetime address to the nation set for Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

It would hardly be his first time doing so. Trump has continuously claimed to be the victim of a "rigged" and "stolen" election since his loss to former President Joe Biden nearly six years earlier, and he has made similar claims about more recent contests that Republicans lost.

Trump's decision to give his election claims the spotlight treatment coincides with multi-level efforts by the president and his allies to reshape U.S. elections ahead of the November midterms. Polls show Democrats are favored to retake the U.S. House amid Trump's slumping popularity.

Trump is expected to repeat his false claims about the 2020 presidential results, while alleging foreign adversaries, including China, have engaged in election influence operations, administration officials told MS NOW.

Trump has kept mum on specifics about the speech, his first formal address since early April, when he claimed the Iran war — which is still going — was nearly over.

But he has repeatedly suggested his remarks Thursday night will focus on his gripes about U.S. elections and his plans to change them.

"It's really, really big news, and our country has to shape up," Trump said at the White House on Tuesday when asked about the speech. "Without free and fair elections, you don't have a country."

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt declined to comment about what Trump will say.

"As usual, anonymous sources are speculating about what President Trump will say during his speech on Thursday evening," she told CNBC. "The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in."

Asked in a Monday night interview on Newsmax for a preview of the address, Trump brought up last month's Los Angeles mayoral primary election as what he saw as an example of a "rigged" race.

Trump had made baseless claims of mass ballot fraud in the race even before his preferred candidate, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, officially lost.

"Our elections are crooked, and we've gotta straighten them out," Trump told Newsmax.

The way to do that, Trump insists, is for Congress to pass the "SAVE America Act," the controversial bill that purports to crack down on noncitizens meddling in U.S. elections by requiring photo identification to vote and proof of citizenship to register, among other provisions. Opponents say the measure would disenfranchise voters, particularly those who are low-income or people of color.

Federal law already requires citizenship to vote in U.S. elections, and data show very few instances in which ballots are cast by noncitizens.

But Trump has made the election bill his top priority ahead of the next elections. He has even refused to sign other legislation into law until the SAVE America Act reaches his desk. And his allies in the House have stalled other measures from reaching the president as they press to pass the SAVE America Act, which doesn't have the votes to clear Congress.

Trump's Republican Party seeks to keep its majorities in the House and Senate past the midterms, but it faces major challenges. The party holding the White House historically underperforms in midterm elections, and Democrats aim to capitalize on what polls have shown are Americans' negative views on the economy, the Iran war and Trump himself.

Trump's election efforts

People vote during primary elections at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, U.S., June 23, 2026.

Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

Trump has sought to challenge election results he opposes using every lever at his disposal.

After his 2020 election loss, Trump and his allies filed dozens of lawsuits challenging states' tallies, but none of the results were overturned and no credible evidence of election-flipping fraud was presented.

The efforts to overturn the 2020 outcome culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, when a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the center of U.S. government and forced lawmakers to temporarily flee their chambers for safety. Trump later pardoned or commuted the sentences of virtually all defendants involved in the riot.

In late January, an election office in Georgia — a top target of Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 race — was raided by the FBI, which sought 2020 election-related records. Trump's then-Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was spotted at that raid.

After Gabbard announced her resignation in May, Trump picked federal housing regulatory chief Bill Pulte as her acting replacement.

Pulte, who has gained a reputation as a loyal attack dog for Trump, is expected to join the president for the speech, MS NOW previously reported.

The Department of Justice, meanwhile, has filed lawsuits in numerous states seeking to obtain detailed voter registration data. The DOJ has argued it needs the information to ensure compliance with federal election laws. More than a dozen such cases have been dismissed by federal judges so far.