Top Trump Officials Are Hitting the Campaign Trail Ahead of the Midterms. Are They Allowed To?

Last month alone, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared alongside President Donald Trump to support Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in his tight reelection fight against Democrat Mary Peltola at a rally in Wasilla, Alaska, on Oct. 13. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared in Wisconsin alongside GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden on Oct. 20 to speak to manufacturing workers during a Pentagon tour highlighting U.S. defense production. Last Monday, Vice President JD Vance and Burgum spoke at a rally in Topeka, Kansas. And on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefly joined Trump on stage, at the President’s urging, during a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas.Cabinet members and other leading Trump officials have been wading into the midterms in these and other ways for months. In August, for instance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan.Legal experts and advocacy groups contend that in making such moves, members of the Administration have violated a decades-old law: the Hatch Act, passed by Congress in 1939, which places restrictions on c...