Alex Padilla: “And I certainly hope this is not the first case.”

Still, this incident is a stark reminder of the very real dangers facing those who serve the public and who help administer our elections in the face of increasingly hostile political rhetoric — especially from Donald Trump.

I know how California elections work very, very well. They’re safe, they’re secure. They’re fair, they’re free, and they’re going to stay that way.

We’ve seen this coming: Donald Trump’s Department of Justice with no authority is now actively trying to interfere in the 2026 elections and strong-arm California into purging names from our voter rolls and blocking mail ballots based…

Any DOJ action that could spoil an election would be one of the most serious constitutional violations imaginable.