Politics is something most of us only step into because we must. We’d rather smile in the warm autumn sun as we help a son or daughter, or grandson or granddaughter, break their first clay or plink steel with their first .22 rifle. We’d rather check a deer rifle’s zero and attend a course run by an NRA-certified instructor than think about local, state and federal political races.
However, in our constitutional system, every two years, the entire U.S. House of Representatives, all 435 positions, and one-third of the U.S. Senate (this year, because of special elections, 35 seats are being decided) are on the ballot.
Given the starkness of this ideological age, the midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 3, could bring sweeping change to America. There is just no escaping that, for good or ill, this election will impact our individual freedom.
Ronald Reagan reminded us that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” We cannot afford to get complacent. We must vote in these midterms, and I highly urge all of you to vote early.
Most states begin early voting in mid- to late October. Many states, such as California, Colorado, and Oregon still focus heavily on mailing ballots to whomever they’ve registered to vote. (This is part of why the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has been suing states that have refused to provide voter rolls to show that non-citizens are not being permitted to cast ballots.)
Quite a few states also allow ballot harvesting, though most states limit who can bring in someone else’s ballot and how many ballots a third party can show up with—California, however, does not limit how many ballots a third party can harvest and simply drop off.
There are differences because the U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to write their own election rules, but there is a big caveat: Article I, Section 4, also gives Congress the power to step in. It reads: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations … .”
This is why no one has been arguing that the SAVE America Act—legislation designed to require individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote and photo identification before they can vote in federal elections—was or is unconstitutional.
Still, though the rules governing our elections can vary widely, one thing remains certain: We need to participate. Our Second Amendment-protected freedom is in jeopardy. NRA members, and all of those who should be NRA members, need to vote and to try to persuade other like-minded citizens to vote.
We also have to play the long game. In recent years, we have seen many Supreme Court decisions come down our way. That did not happen by accident. It is the direct result of a Senate majority that confirmed originalist judges, and of President Donald Trump’s determined effort to appoint conservative judges to the federal bench. The 2026 midterms are therefore critical. We must maintain a majority in the Senate that supports the Second Amendment. It is critically important that judicial confirmations continue so the courts remain a bulwark for our rights.
The NRA stays involved at every level of this civil-rights struggle because our most basic freedom is often in play in the state legislatures, courts, federal agencies and halls of Congress.
To help you, the NRA Political Victory Fund (nrapvf.org) grades and endorses candidates not by party affiliation, but according to how they’ve voted or what they answered on a questionnaire, so that you can see where candidates stand on our right to keep and bear arms.
The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) also files lawsuits to defend our freedom and writes friend-of-the-court briefs to help explain, with deep historical research and explanations of applicable laws, the nuances of Second Amendment law to members of the judiciary. Some NRA-ILA employees also lobby members of Congress and state politicians in attempts to preserve or enhance our freedom.
The sway that these NRA-ILA employees have has less to do with their considerable personal charisma than it does with the weight of all the NRA members behind them—this is perhaps the most basic reason why we need freedom-loving Americans to join the NRA, to sign up their kids and to speak with others in their gun clubs and more to ensure everyone understands we need to stand together.
If possible, you can also go to NRA-ILA Grassroots (nraila.org/grassroots) and sign up to send text messages to voters, to knock on doors in get-out-the-vote efforts, and to do much more to help in the struggle to keep our freedom.
I also recommend signing up to receive NRA-ILA Legislative Alerts (nraila.org/sign-up) to stay informed. You can also help by forwarding NRA articles and videos to like-minded individuals and by posting links to NRA content on your social media. We are all in this struggle together.
In this great nation, we have been given the individual right to defend our own lives with tools made for self-defense, but this gift can be lost if we don’t vote and advocate for this critical individual right today.
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