RELEASE: Rep. Friedman Joins Shadow Hearing on Protecting American Democracy

Above: Rep. Friedman seated at shadow hearing on protecting democracy.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Today, April 7, 2026, U.S. Congresswoman Laura Friedman (CA-30) joined a shadow field hearing on protecting American democracy at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles. The hearing was organized by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, and House Administration Committee Ranking Member Joseph D. Morelle.

During the hearing, Members heard from expert witnesses on the threats to election security, voting rights, and democratic institutions ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Since returning to office, President Trump has effectively gutted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the agency he himself created in 2018 and called "vital," pushing out nearly a third of its employees, halting election security work, and assigning 2020 election deniers to oversee what remains. At the same time, the administration has issued executive orders seeking to restrict mail-in voting, pushed proof-of-citizenship mandates that could prevent millions of eligible voters from casting their ballots, demanded voter registration files from states, and had the FBI seize materials from the 2020 election in Georgia and Arizona.

"While our election security infrastructure is being dismantled, this administration is simultaneously making it harder for eligible Americans to vote - pushing proof-of-citizenship mandates, demanding voter rolls from states, restricting mail-in voting, and threatening federal enforcement at polling places," said Congresswoman Laura Friedman (CA-30). "We held this hearing in the Democracy Forum, inside a museum that tells the story of Americans who had their rights stripped away by their own government. That history is a warning. Democracy has to be defended, and that's exactly what we intend to do."

The shadow hearing heard testimony from Hector Villagra, Vice President of Policy Advocacy and Community Education at MALDEF; Sonni Waknin, Program Manager at the UCLA Voting Rights Project; Darius Kemp, Executive Director of Common Cause California; Jenny Farrell, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of California; and Justin Levitt, Professor of Law at Loyola Law School and former White House Senior Policy Advisor for Democracy and Voting Rights.

THREATS TO THE 2026 MIDTERMS:

• Nearly a third of CISA's employees have been pushed out, election security work has been halted, and 2020 election deniers have been assigned to oversee the agency's remaining election functions
• The administration cut funding for the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), the only coordinated national warning system for cyber threats to election systems
• Last week, the President signed a new executive order directing the Postal Service to only deliver mail ballots to voters on a federal government-approved list - despite the fact that he recently voted by mail and mail ballot fraud occurs in roughly four cases per 10 million ballots cast
• House Republicans passed the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote - a requirement that more than 21 million eligible citizens cannot readily meet
• The Justice Department has demanded voter registration files from most states, and allies of the President have called for ICE agents to be deployed at polling places during the midterms

Congresswoman Friedman was joined at the hearing by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, and House Administration Committee Ranking Member Joseph D. Morelle, Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-43), Rep. Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), Rep. Norma Torres (CA-35), Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Rep. Gil Cisneros (CA-31), and Rep. Luz Rivas (CA-29)

Below: Rep. Friedman with fellow Democratic colleagues.

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