WATCH: Rep. Adam Zabner, Progress Iowa, Election Experts Expose How Trump and Iowa Republicans Are Coming After Iowa Voters

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Try And Stop Us convened a press call with Iowa State Representative Adam Zabner, Progress Iowa Executive Director Mazie Stilwell, and Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow Michael Sozan on how Trump and Iowa Republicans are coming after Iowa voters ahead of November.

The call came the day before voting opens in Iowa, where Republicans have cut early voting from 40 days to 20. Two weeks before the 2024 election, Secretary of State Paul Pate ordered county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters, hitting naturalized citizens and forcing them to cast provisional ballots. Pate, who is on the ballot again this November, is now forking over Iowa’s driver’s license data to Trump’s Department of Homeland Security.

“Republicans have continued to attack voting rights in the state of Iowa for years now,” said State Representative Adam Zabner. “They have shortened the absentee voting window. They’ve made it harder to vote at the polls. They’ve attempted to limit voter attestation, and now Secretary Paul Pate has shared all of our voter data with the federal government when other states simply said no. This is really concerning, given what happened in 2024, when Secretary Pate ordered over 2,000 voters to be challenged at the polls, creating mass confusion. What ended up happening is that most of those challenged voters were actually citizens, and Secretary Pate was using faulty data.”

“In Iowa, voters know that we pick our leaders, and it’s not the other way around,” said Progress Iowa Executive Director Mazie Stilwell. “Unfortunately, MAGA Republicans like Paul Pate and Brenna Bird have bowed down and handed over our sensitive voter data. They’re helping Trump limit who can vote so that they can control the outcome. Had Brenna Bird and Paul Pate decided to have a spine and stand up for our privacy and rights, they very likely would have won. But the attacks continue. We’re grateful for the laws and the election workers who protect our freedom to vote and make sure that it’s Iowans, not politicians, who decide our election day outcomes.”

“President Trump, his administration, and their allies are terrified of losing the upcoming election,” said Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow Michael Sozan. “They and bad actors are actively attempting to sow confusion and fear and doubt about our election system. It’s Iowa voters who decide who gets elected and what the future of Iowa looks like, what the future of the nation looks like. It’s Iowa voters who get to decide how to hold their elected leaders accountable. When people across the ideological spectrum, collectively and peacefully, use their voice to speak up on behalf of democracy, good things can happen.”

A recording of the press call is available here.