--- title: Does Trump Want to Cancel the Elections? White House Answers description: Trump has suggested canceling the upcoming midterm elections not once, but twice, in a matter of days. canonical: https://time.com/7346834/trump-canceling-midterm-elections-joking-white-house/ author: Callum Sutherland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-01-16T13:22:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:47:49.836Z article:section: Politics og:title: Is Trump Serious About Canceling the Midterm Elections? og:description: Trump has suggested canceling the upcoming midterm elections not once, but twice, in a matter of days. og:url: https://time.com/7346834/trump-canceling-midterm-elections-joking-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a5b96d549da3ae3/6998ccee1f6709b479f5716d/GettyImages-522427202.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Campaigns In New York City On Day Of State's Primary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is Trump Serious About Canceling the Midterm Elections? twitter:description: Trump has suggested canceling the upcoming midterm elections not once, but twice, in a matter of days. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a5b96d549da3ae3/6998ccee1f6709b479f5716d/GettyImages-522427202.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Insists Trump Is 'Joking' About Canceling Midterm Elections > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Jan 16, 2026 1:22 PM UTC  Donald Trump votes at his local polling station in New York's primary on April 19, 2016, in New York City. Donald Trump votes at his local polling station in New York's primary on April 19, 2016, in New York City. Spencer Platt—Getty Images by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Jan 16, 2026 1:22 PM UTC So far in 2026, President Donald Trump has suggested canceling the upcoming midterm elections not once, but twice. His most recent floating of the idea came in an interview with Reuters, during which he discussed concerns that the Republicans could lose seats in the midterms. He’s quoted as arguing “we shouldn’t even have an election,” on account of how much the Trump Administration has accomplished. When asked about the comments on Thursday evening, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt [brushed off](https://apnews.com/video/white-house-says-trump-was-joking-as-he-repeatedly-talks-about-canceling-midterm-elections-65084edd0c9a48599c5d4a7764e2ad81) the remarks, telling reporters the President was “simply joking.” Stating she was present for the interview earlier this week, Leavitt added: “He was saying ‘we’re doing such a great job… maybe we should just keep rolling.’ But he was speaking facetiously.” Another reporter challenged this response, citing the importance of Democracy and asking if the President finds the idea of canceling elections to be “funny.” Leavitt chastised the press member for taking the matter so “seriously.” Trump’s initial reference to canceling the elections came during his Jan. 6 [address](https://time.com/7343696/trump-floats-cancelling-2026-elections/) to House Republicans as they gathered at the Kennedy Center to discuss their agenda for the year ahead. Criticizing Democrats, Trump said “they have the worst policy” and questioned “how we have to even run against these people.” “I won’t say cancel the election, they should cancel the election, because the fake news would say, ‘He wants the elections canceled. He’s a dictator.’ They always call me a dictator,” he claimed, adding that if the Republicans don’t win the midterms, the opposition will “find a reason to impeach” him. **Read More**: [_Calls for Trump’s Impeachment Gain Momentum Amid Fallout Over Venezuela Operation_](https://time.com/7343574/trump-impeachment-calls-gather-pace-venezuela-fallout/) Federal law leaves no room for a President to postpone or cancel congressional elections, but Trump has previously advocated for making such moves. In July 2020, he suggested that the Presidential election later that year should be postponed. “With universal mail-in voting, 2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the election until people can properly, securely, and safely vote,” [Trump said,](https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1288818160389558273?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1288818160389558273%7Ctwgr%5E19610a2c76bb422943054cb2442a0aad9da9736b%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-53597975) making claims over mail-in voter fraud. When Trump went on to lose the 2020 race to President Joe Biden, he refused to acknowledge his loss and has continued to make false claims about the integrity of the election. He even fired top cybersecurity official Chris Krebs, after the analyst [declared](https://time.com/5912049/trumps-voter-fraud-claims-are-now-being-debunked-by-his-own-government/) the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.” Amid the rhetoric over supposedly stolen elections, on Jan. 6, 2021, rioters [stormed the Capitol building](https://time.com/5927132/donald-trump-mob-capitol-chaos/) in an attempt to block lawmakers from certifying Biden’s election victory. Trump most recently referred to the results as “rigged” during his address to House Republicans at the Kennedy Center. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7346834/trump-canceling-midterm-elections-joking-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7346834/trump-canceling-midterm-elections-joking-white-house/"},"headline":"White House Insists Trump Is 'Joking' About Canceling Midterm Elections","datePublished":"2026-01-16T13:22:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:47:49.836Z","description":"Trump has suggested canceling the upcoming midterm elections not once, but twice, in a matter of days.","url":"https://time.com/7346834/trump-canceling-midterm-elections-joking-white-house/","keywords":["Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a5b96d549da3ae3/6998ccee1f6709b479f5716d/GettyImages-522427202.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Callum Sutherland","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a5b96d549da3ae3/6998ccee1f6709b479f5716d/GettyImages-522427202.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Campaigns In New York City On Day Of State's Primary","caption":"Donald Trump Campaigns In New York City On Day Of State's Primary","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7346834/trump-canceling-midterm-elections-joking-white-house/","name":"White House Insists Trump Is 'Joking' About Canceling Midterm Elections"}}]}] ```