‘Five alarm fire for democracy’: Dems, voting advocates voice outrage at FBI raid of Georgia elections office

Outrage and grave concern about the midterm elections followed in the wake of the FBI’s court-authorized raid of the Fulton County, Georgia elections office Wednesday. 

“This is a blatant attempt to distract from the Trump-authorized state violence that killed multiple Americans in Minnesota,” Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett (D), who is running for Georgia Secretary of State said. “Sending 25 FBI agents to raid our Fulton County elections office is political theater and part of a concerted effort to take over elections in swing districts across the country.”

“Let’s be clear: Trump wants full control of the outcome of the 2026 and 2028 elections because he knows they can’t win without it,” Barrett added. “He’s teeing up the MAGA-controlled state elections board to take over Fulton County elections—and he’s wasting taxpayer dollars to prop up his dangerous lies and conspiracies. Today’s actions are another disastrous step to undo the will of Georgia voters and interfere in our elections.”

U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) linked the raid to President Donald Trump’s history of continuing to contest the 2020 election.

“After losing Georgia in 2020, Donald Trump demanded state officials ‘find’ votes to change the outcome, tried to use DOJ to overturn it, and spread conspiracy theories that led to the Jan. 6 sacking of the U.S. Capitol,” Ossoff said. “I suspect today’s raid is a continuation of this sore loser’s crusade, despite repeated audits and independent reviews confirming that Donald Trump was indeed defeated. From Minnesota to Georgia, on display to the whole world is a President spiraling out of control, wielding federal law enforcement as an unaccountable instrument of personal power and revenge.”

DNC Chair Ken Martin condemned the raid and framed it as part of Trump’s ongoing fixation with his 2020 election loss.

“Donald Trump is a weak loser who still cannot come to terms with the fact that he lost the 2020 election. Instead of focusing on making life more affordable for Georgians or stopping federal agents from terrorizing and killing American citizens on our streets, Trump is still fixated on an election that he lost,” Martin said. “Democrats will not back down — the DNC will continue fighting back against Donald Trump’s attempts to disenfranchise voters, weaponize the Justice Department, and intimidate election officials.”

Speaking outside of the Fulton County election office, Kristin Nabers, Georgia state director for All Voting is Local, said the real reason for the seizure was fueling Trump’s false narratives and undermining election integrity, not uncovering evidence of an actual crime.

“I think the FBI is doing the president’s bidding and trying to create a criminal case against Georgia. And by carrying out this farce of an investigation, they’re just trying to placate his delusions,” Nabers said. “It’s all a power grab. They can’t come to grips with the fact that they lost. They really have this unending obsession with the 2020 election results in Georgia and using lies to compensate for the fact that they lost.”

On Bluesky, Ga. State Representative Ruwa Romman (D), a candidate for governor, quickly criticized the raid. 

“This egregious misuse of government resources is nothing more than carrying out the obsession of a delusional old man who can’t believe he lost in 2020,” she wrote. “We need new leadership that will stand up to this rogue administration and protect us.”

Rick Hasen, an election law professor at the University of California Los Angeles, called it a “dangerous escalation,” on the Election Law Blog. 

John Bonifaz, president of Free Speech For People and a constitutional lawyer, issued a statement decrying the FBI’s search as an attack on the principle of federalism. “The Constitution explicitly specifies that elections are to be the province of the states, and the courts have recently reaffirmed this fact when they rejected Trump’s attempt to interfere with elections via Executive Order. This unprecedented intrusion by the federal government to raid the Fulton County election office is unequivocal evidence that Trump is hell-bent on unlawfully interfering with our elections. This is a five alarm fire for democracy.” 

The raid came a week after President Donald Trump made a pair of comments foreshadowing imminent prosecutorial action related to the 2020 elections. Speaking in Davos, Trump said “People will soon be prosecuted,” over the election, which Trump has falsely maintained he won despite losing over 60 court cases challenging the results. 

The Associated Press also reported that Paul W. Brown, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the Atlanta field office, was suddenly removed last week, although it is unclear if that is related to the execution of this warrant. 

In 2022, former Attorney General Bill Barr said in an interview that there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Barr authorized U.S. attorney offices across the nation to investigate allegations of election tampering immediately after results came in.

“We haven’t seen anything to substantiate” systemic fraud, the Trump appointee said.

This story has been updated.