(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Illinois’s former Democrat Gov. Rod Blagojevich recently debunked the claims of current leftists, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who have routinely denied the problem of vote fraud undermining U.S. election integrity.
“Voter fraud is commonplace, especially in big cities & especially without Voter ID,” he said in an X post on Thursday, contrasting his firsthand account with Newsom’s claim that “Voter fraud is extremely rare.”
Current Dem Governor Gavin Newsom says “Voter fraud is extremely rare, committed by American citizens.“ Former Dem Governor Me says, “Voter fraud is commonplace, especially in big cities & especially without Voter ID.
Am I wrong or is he?— Rod Blagojevich (@realBlagojevich) July 17, 2026
Blagojevich — himself a product of Chicago’s machine politics — spent nearly eight years in federal prison over a “pay-to-play” venture to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after he was elected president.
However, his 14-year sentence was commuted by President Donald trump in February 2020, followed by a full pardon in 2025.
After Blagojevich was removed from office in 2009, but before his 2011 conviction, the ex-governor got to know Trump while appearing as a contestant on season 3 of The Celebrity Apprentice, which Trump hosted.
However, there is no reason to believe that Blagojevich’s recent revelation signaled any shifting political allegiance, given the long-documented history of vote fraud in the Windy City and other leftist strongholds.
As the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles noted in a recent video, a 1982 Illinois race resulted in 58 convictions of campaign workers and election officials.
“In Chicago alone, a grand jury found that 100,000 fraudulent votes had been cast,” Knowles said. “But Chicago had already been a central hub of Democrat election theft for decades.”
He cited additional scholarship indicating that Democrat John F. Kennedy likely stole the state from then-Vice President Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential race.
On Thursday, Trump revealed in a prime-time speech that the White House was declassifying documents that showed hard evidence of Chinese election-meddling, as well as a de-facto coup by seditious members of the deep state to withhold key information about election vulnerabilities.
📰 Election integrity is crucial to the fabric of our nation. NO MORE GAMES, SAVE AMERICA'S ELECTIONS.
➡️ https://t.co/2R4OHBzeuT pic.twitter.com/1GR2Tn5adA
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 17, 2026
Although Trump used the announcement to reiterate calls for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, he also has forged ahead on efforts to secure upcoming elections without the necessary legislative support.
Homeland Security Sec. Markwayne Mullin, after revealing that at least a quarter-million noncitizens were registered to vote in four blue or battleground states, announced that those who wished to receive federal funds to run elections would need to open their dirty voter rolls to additional scrutiny.
A preliminary @DHSgov review found over 250,000 non-citizens registered to vote in four states: California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.
This shouldn’t be a red or blue state issue: ONLY Americans should elect American leaders.
We’ve put these governors on notice.… pic.twitter.com/9hpsg5xhS0
— Secretary Markwayne Mullin (@SecMullinDHS) July 17, 2026
Meanwhile, the Trump administration got a boost, albeit a temporary one, from a legal victory after the D.C. Circuit court — widely known for harboring corrupt, activist, anti-Trump judges — allowed the U.S. Postal Service to proceed with new guidelines requiring states to submit voter lists and scannable bar codes for tracking mail-in ballots at the federal level.
🚨 The D.C. Circuit has temporarily allowed the U.S. Postal Service to move forward with its proposed election-mail rule requiring states to submit voter lists and serialized ballot barcodes before USPS will mail federal ballots, staying a district judge's order. pic.twitter.com/MRfGcBWa8S
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) July 17, 2026
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
