They tried to overturn the 2020 US election. Now, they hold power in Trump’s Washington

The people who tried to overturn the 2020 election have more power than ever – and they plan to use it.

Bolstered by the president, they have prominent roles in key parts of the federal government. Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer who helped advance Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election in 2020, now leads the civil rights division of the justice department. An election denier, Heather Honey, now serves as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity in the department of homeland security. Kurt Olsen, an attorney involved in the “stop the steal” movement, is now a special government employee investigating the 2020 election.

A movement that once pressured elected officials to bend to its whims is now part of the government.

“The call is literally coming from inside the house,” said Joanna Lydgate, co-founder and chief executive officer of the States United Democracy Center. “Now it has its tentacles in the White House, in Congress and federal agencies, and with outside groups really feeding into that infrastructure.”

The Trump administration is going after states with dubious requests for voter data that could ensnare qualified voters and will serve as an underpinning for future claims of fraud. They are working to install rules that limit voter access or sow seeds of distrust in who can vote and how. Trump has put federal agents in cities around the country, raising fears that officers could be tapped for election purposes.

“All of this, while focused on past elections, is misdirection about what the actual intention likely is, which is to interfere with the 2026 elections and attempt to delegitimize them if the president’s party doesn’t do well,” said David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research.