In the June 17, 2026 episode of The Moment with Katy Tur on MS NOW, host Katy Tur brought Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) back on the show for the second day in a row. Tur turned to Warner for his opinion on the latest developments surrounding the SAVE Act and President Trump’s actions.
The Democratic senator said:
No, no, I don’t think the Republicans are gonna throw over the filibuster for basically a voter disenfranchisement bill.
Um, that even if they did throw it over, I think there are four Republicans at least who said they won’t vote for it.
Save Act is not gonna become law. Thank God.You know, after the Voting Rights Act has been hurt by the Supreme Court, the idea that we’re gonna suddenly then disenfranchise every woman who changed their name if they got married and or turnover voter files to this, this crowd, it’s not gonna become law.
It does show that Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn about American national security.
Senator Warner’s statement is not a serious argument. It is partisan fearmongering dressed up as concern for voting rights.
The SAVE Act is not a “voter disenfranchisement bill.” It simply requires people to prove they are U.S. citizens before registering to vote in federal elections. That should not be controversial. In a sane country, it would be the bare minimum.
Democrats want Americans to believe that asking for proof of citizenship is extreme. It is not. What is extreme is pretending that election officials should simply take people at their word when it comes to citizenship and voting eligibility.
Warner’s claim that the bill would “disenfranchise every woman who changed their name” after marriage is dishonest and absurd. Women have updated names on official documents for generations. Marriage certificates, birth certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, Social Security records, and naturalization papers already exist for this exact purpose. This is routine documentation, not some impossible burden invented by Republicans.
The SAVE Act also includes backup processes for people who face documentation issues.
If an applicant cannot provide one of the standard forms of documentary proof of citizenship, the bill requires states to create an alternative process. The applicant can sign an attestation under penalty of perjury that he or she is a U.S. citizen and eligible to vote, submit other evidence of citizenship, and the state or local election official then determines whether that evidence is sufficient.
The bill also requires states to create a process for cases where there is a discrepancy in a person’s citizenship documents, including name discrepancies. That means the claim that every married woman who changed her name would automatically be disenfranchised is false. The bill specifically addresses documentation discrepancies and requires states to provide a way for applicants to prove citizenship when their paperwork does not perfectly match.
Democrats know that. They say it anyway because fear is the only argument they have left.
Warner also attacked the idea of using government databases to check voter eligibility, as if confirming citizenship is somehow dangerous. It is not dangerous. It is exactly what responsible election systems should do. States should be able to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens are registering to vote. That is not voter suppression. That is election integrity.
His celebration that the SAVE Act “is not gonna become law” says everything. Democrats are not protecting democracy by opposing proof of citizenship. They are protecting a broken system that makes it too easy for ineligible people to get on the voter rolls and too difficult for the public to know the truth.
Then Warner tried to drag President Trump and “national security” into the discussion, which made the attack even more ridiculous. There is nothing anti-national security about requiring proof of citizenship to vote. In fact, the opposite is true. A country that cannot secure its elections cannot honestly claim to secure anything else.
Only American citizens should vote in American elections. That is not radical. That is not voter suppression. That is the foundation of self-government.
Senator Warner is wrong. The SAVE Act is common sense. The only people threatened by proof of citizenship are Democrats who benefit politically from weak, unverifiable voter registration rules.
Watch on Rumble