SAN FRANCISCO — California will deploy its own observers to watch over federal election monitors the Trump administration is sending to the state ahead of the Nov. 4 election, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
Bonta on Monday accused President Donald Trump of preparing to use poll monitors to sow doubt and conspiracy theories about the fairness of California’s vote on a congressional redistricting measure pushed by Democrats.
“They're not going to be allowed to interfere in ways that the law prohibits,” Bonta, a Democrat, told reporters during a virtual news conference. “We cannot be naive. The Republican Party asked for the U.S. DOJ to come in.”
Bonta’s comments come after Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice would monitor polling places during next week’s off-year elections in California and New Jersey to uphold “the highest standards of election integrity.” California GOP Chair Corrin Rankin, a former Trump campaign surrogate, asked fellow Californian and Justice Department civil rights head Harmeet Dhillon to send the monitors.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who spearheaded the redistricting ballot measure, called the move an act of voter intimidation and suppression. “This is a bridge too far,” Newsom, a likely presidential candidate in 2028, said on Friday.
Bonta echoed that sentiment, speculating that Trump is preparing to challenge the potential passage of Proposition 50, Democrats’ redistricting proposal that is polling strongly ahead. He said Trump’s efforts foreshadow an attempt to challenge future elections.
“He is laying the groundwork. He is socializing an idea that is very dangerous,” Bonta said, noting that Trump still claims to have won the 2020 presidential election. “All indications, all arrows show that this is a tee up for something more dangerous in the 2026 midterms — and maybe beyond.”
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dhillon has previously mocked Newsom’s suggestion that the deployment of federal monitors amounts to voter suppression.
“Lol calm down bro,” she posted on X. “The @TheJusticeDept under Democrat administrations has sent in federal election observers for decades, and not once did we hear that this was voter intimidation from states such as California.”
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