Darline Graham Sends Clear Signal to MAGA Doubters

Key Points:

• Newly sworn-in Sen. Darline Graham Nordone has aligned herself with former President Donald Trump's agenda by co-sponsoring the SAVE America Act, a voter ID and citizenship verification bill favored by MAGA supporters.
• The SAVE America Act would require states to mandate voter ID and proof of citizenship, despite U.S. citizenship already being a legal voting requirement and rare instances of noncitizen voting.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune has resisted efforts to pass the bill, citing a lack of 60 votes and opposing filibuster changes, leading to criticism from MAGA hardliners who accuse him of stalling.
• The Senate version of the bill lacks some Trump-demanded provisions, such as banning mail-in ballots nationwide and restrictions on transgender athletes, but it has adopted Trump's preferred name, the SAVE America Act.
• Republicans have recently used Olive Garden’s ID requirement for its Never-Ending Pasta Pass as a symbolic argument for voting ID laws, a comparison Democrats have criticized as trivializing the constitutional right to vote.