On the first day of his second term, in remarks before his inaugural luncheon, President Donald Trump said the 2020 election was “rigged.” Trump has repeated this false claim hundreds of times since November 2020.

Trump attributes his 2024 win to having a margin of victory “too big to rig,” but he falsely insists that Democrats had tried to do so anyway.

He now claims to have won three presidential elections: in 2016, 2020 and 2024. He won two.

Trump has taken to saying that wars and other events would not have happened had the 2020 election not been “rigged” and had he remained in office.

He falsely claims that Democrats use immigrants lacking legal status to “cheat” in elections. It is rare for noncitizens to vote in the United States.

Trump also falsely claims that mail-in ballots produce fraudulent election results. There is no evidence for these claims.

He consistently depicts U.S. elections as inherently corrupt.

He has repeated these lies over and over again.

In February, he renewed his effort to push for legislation that would impose voter identification requirements and limit voting by mail. The bill, known as the SAVE America Act, purports to address Trump’s debunked claims of widespread election fraud.

Trump claims that Democrats will “cheat” in the midterms unless the SAVE America Act passes. He is calling on Republicans to produce a midterm victory that is “too big to rig.”

In June, Trump used the slow count of mail ballots to question the primary results for governor of California and mayor of Los Angeles.

As the midterms approach, Trump is amplifying his baseless claim that most political polls are “fake,” portraying them as part of an effort by the media to sway the election against Republicans.

In a statement, Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, said that “the evidence of voter fraud continues to pile up” and that Democrats’ refusal to vote for the SAVE America Act is “keeping Americans from having full confidence in their elections.”

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NOTE: The data in this story and accompanying graphics is based on an analysis of Trump’s public remarks and Truth Social posts from Jan. 20, 2025, through Oct. 13, 2026. SOURCE: Roll Call’s Factbase.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Karen Yourish and Arfa Momin
c. 2026 The New York Times Company