Newsom warns Trump as California deploys election lawyers to battleground districts

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is warning President Trump against trying to meddle in his state’s elections amid growing concerns from Democrats over federal interference in next week’s midterms.

“A warning to Donald Trump: I’m deploying election lawyers to key battleground districts in California to protect every vote,” Newsom wrote on social platform X .

“And I just made it a FELONY to illegally seize ballots,” he added.

Newsom continued in a press release, “A federal badge is not a license to intimidate voters or interfere with an election,” before referencing a federal appeals court ruling that allowed the state to count 20,000 mail-in ballots that the Trump administration tried to say were likely from noncitizens.

The governor’s office stated in a press release that nearly 1,000 trained volunteers are slated to be stationed in California’s 6th, 13th, 22nd, 45th and 48th congressional districts on Tuesday, adding that personnel are “remaining for as long as necessary.”

The volunteers will comprise more than 800 poll observers, 134 attorneys and 54 hotline operators “with increased coverage in competitive congressional districts.”

Newsom has been dogged in his administration’s effort to reform and protect elections in California, signing into law a legislative package in September that enacted penalties for people involved with the seizure of ballots. This follows his signing of a law in May that prohibits federal agents from accessing voter rolls or election technology without a court order.

Trump and Newsom have engaged in a contentious relationship as the California governor clashed with the president over the upcoming midterm cycle.

Before the appeals court decision, Trump attacked California officials regarding mail-in ballots, saying on Truth Social that “they will all go to jail for a long period of time” if officials count fraudulent ballots. He also stated that he believed California has “very very corrupt elections” and if the state “had an honest vote count … I would have won it by a lot.”

California hasn’t voted for a Republican for president since the 1980s, and then-Vice President Kamala Harris won the state with more than 58 percent of the vote in 2024.

Trump said Tuesday he will respect next week’s midterm results “if they’re honest elections.”