What could destroy the GOP base for the looming midterm elections is the SAVE America Act, Blaze Media host Steve Deace told American Family Radio Wednesday.
Democrats last fall outperformed expectations, winning gubernatorial races in Virginia (Abigail Spanberger) and New Jersey (Mikie Sherrill) by larger-than-expected margins.
These outcomes, along with Democratic gains in state legislatures—including breaking Republican supermajorities in Iowa and Mississippi—suggest a broader trend of Republican voter disengagement or Democratic mobilization, likely both.
Republicans for now govern with the coveted Capitol Hill trifecta of the presidency and both houses of Congress, but history shows that the party that controls the White House often loses congressional ground in the midterms.
The GOP needs an energized base and a big turnout to buck that trend this November. Election integrity—the goal of the SAVE America Act—would help too.
"This Iran war, unless we're dead wrong and Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio and Donald Trump get body-snatched into Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and that era of people, and they do get bogged down into a quagmire in Tehran, that’s not going to divide our base," Deace told show host Jenna Ellis.
But the SAVE America Act could.
"The SAVE America Act could euthanize our base," Deace said.
Filed originally by Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, the bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate in 2025.
Revived, tweaked and renamed, it is sitting in the Senate again.
The bill requires individuals to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship—such as a passport or birth certificate—when registering to vote in federal elections.
It also imposes strict photo ID requirements for voting, excludes student IDs, and mandates that mail-in voters submit photocopies of their ID with both their ballot application and ballot.
Democrats say the increased scrutiny would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has stated the bill would make it harder for women, seniors, military members and low-income Americans to vote, noting that over 21 million eligible voters lack ready access to birth certificates or passports.
Rep. Roy and Sen. Lee introduced their new version on January 29.
Republican voters crave stronger voting requirements. Deace said the topic is top-of-mind when he makes campaign appearances with Republican Adam Stein, a candidate for governor in Iowa.
"I get asked about the SAVE Act and about voter fraud and election integrity at every single stop here in Iowa," he said. "Do not pass this, and you will euthanize our base."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) says there aren't enough votes to bypass a filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, and he's reluctant to use the GOP majority to try to remove the filibuster, which was put in place by the founding fathers to give voice to the chamber's minority party.
There aren't enough Senate votes for that either, he says.
Trump's SAVE America Act push
President Donald Trump is pushing the legislation multiple times a week on Truth Social.
"The United States Senate should focus on, exclusively if necessary, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!!! It's what everyone wants!!! President DJT," he wrote on Monday.
"The votes aren't there, one, to nuke the filibuster, and the votes aren't there for a talking filibuster. It's just a reality," Thune told reporters Tuesday. "I'm the person who has to deliver sometimes the not-so-good news that the math doesn't add up, but those are the facts, and there's no getting around it."
In the post-World War II era, there have been 20 midterm elections. In 18 of them, the sitting president's party lost House seats, a rate of 90%.
There's fluctuation in the Senate too, though usually less.
Republicans currently hold a four-seat majority in the House and a six-seat majority in the Senate.
"You're demoralizing our base," Deace said. "I think that that has to become law. Do not pass it, and however bad you think these midterms will be, you're looking at obliteration nationwide. If Republicans cannot do this, people will start wondering why they ever voted for them."
