Trump Pressures Top Republican Senator To Rally Support for SAVE Act: ‘He’s Gotta Be a Leader’

President Donald Trump turned the heat up on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to get the SAVE Act passed on Wednesday, with Trump saying he needs to deliver because the American public overwhelmingly supports requiring ID to vote in federal elections.

Trump was asked about Thune and the legislation’s progress while speaking to reporters in front of the White House. The president responded to a question that mentioned Thune has said he does not have the votes necessary to push the act through.

“He’s gotta be a leader. He’s a leader, he’s gotta get ’em,” Trump said. “It’s the most popular bill I’ve ever seen put before Congress.”

Trump continued:

It’s voter ID, you have to be a citizen to vote. It’s called citizenship. And we’re also adding in no men playing in women’s sports, no transgender mutilation of our children, and no mail in ballots — fake mail-in ballots — except in the case of the military, etc.

His answer came shortly after The Hill reported Thune told GOP colleagues “they don’t have the votes to pass [the] House-approved voting reform bill through the Senate by forcing Democrats to use a talking filibuster to oppose it.”

Trump has been pushing hard for the SAVE Act recently, saying on Monday that it will “guarantee” victory for Republicans in the 2026 midterms. “If you don’t get it, big trouble,” he added.

Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have vocally opposed the act, with Schumer saying last month voter ID requirements are racist.

“I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the SAVE Act would impose Jim Crow-type laws on the entire country and is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Schumer said. “It is a poison pill that will kill any legislation that it is attached to. If House Republicans add the SAVE Act to the bipartisan appropriations package it will lead to another prolonged Trump government shutdown.”

CNN data guru Harry Enten showed most Americans disagree with Schumer and support voter ID laws, though.

Enten reported that all polling going back to 2018 showed at least 75% of Americans back voter ID — including one poll from this year that showed a whopping 83% of citizens were in favor of it.

He added that this is one issue that most Democrats and Republicans agree on; Enten showed 71% of Dems and 95% of Republicans backed voter ID, based on 2025 data from Pew.

“Normally, you might expect hey, there’d be a big divide by party, with Republicans really for it and Democrats really against it,” Enten said. “But not really here.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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