Fact check: Hegseth twice made a false claim to Congress about troops being sent to voting places under Biden

(CNN) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a false claim about the military in his testimony to the House on Wednesday. Then he repeated the false claim in his testimony to the Senate on Thursday.

Democratic Rep. Jill Tokuda asked Hegseth at a Wednesday hearing of the House Armed Services Committee whether he would comply with a hypothetical future order from President Donald Trump to deploy troops to polling places during this year’s midterm elections. Tokuda told him such a deployment would violate the federal law that prohibits sending federal troops to voting locations unless that is “necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”

After saying he rejects the notion that Trump would issue unlawful orders, Hegseth said moments later in the exchange: “I will note that in 2024, troops were depl… – that was Joe Biden by the way, Joe Biden – were deployed to polling locations in 15 states.” He repeated, “2024 – Joe Biden – troops deployed to polling locations in 15 states. Explain that one to me.”

There’s an easy explanation. Hegseth’s claim is not true.

All of the National Guard activations connected to the 2024 election were ordered by state governors, not by Biden. And all 12 of the states that responded to CNN’s requests for information said that none of their troops were deployed to polling locations.

Rather, the states said their Guard personnel worked behind the scenes at other locations – helping with election cybersecurity or serving as internal liaisons – or that their state Guard was not actually activated for the election after all.

Iowa was typical. “We help in a cybersecurity capacity with any major election. But we never leave our state emergency operations center,” Iowa National Guard spokesperson Jackie Schmillen said in an interview, adding that the state Guard personnel are “in a basement.” She emphasized, “We have never gone to a polling station as part of an election.”

Similarly, “The Arizona National Guard did not deploy National Guardsmen to polling locations in 2024,” state Guard spokesperson Erin Hannigan said in an email. Rather, she said, “Our Cyber Joint Task Force activated two personnel in a state active-duty standby role. In the event of a potential cyber incident, our Cyber Joint Task Force members were available to assist the Arizona Department of Homeland Security. No such request was made.”

Hegseth didn’t specify which states he was referring to; the Defense Department acknowledged that it had received CNN’s requests for comment on his claims but did not end up providing a response. So CNN reached out to the 15 states that an Election Day 2024 article in military publication Stars and Stripes said had activated Guard troops for that day, citing the Guard as the source of the information.

Three of the states (Alabama, Tennessee and Wisconsin) did not respond, but we could not find evidence those states sent troops to polling locations in 2024, either. Regardless, it’s clear from the 12 states that did respond – again, all of which said they deployed no troops to polling locations – that Hegseth’s claim that troops “were deployed to polling locations in 15 states” is incorrect.

Hegseth was challenged on his Wednesday claim by Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday. But Hegseth reiterated during that exchange: “By the way, in 2024, under the Biden administration, 15 states did deploy troops to polling stations.”

Again, not true.

Behind-the-scenes 2024 roles for a small number of troops

Trump has not said he plans to send troops to polling locations in any future election.

There was a general election in which at least a small number of states did deploy state National Guard troops to polling locations: the 2020 election during the first Trump presidency. Troops, at least many of them out of uniform, assisted with various duties at voting sites when some election workers couldn’t do their jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Hegseth’s claim was about the 2024 election during the Biden presidency. And all of the states that responded to CNN and said they did have National Guard personnel working on that election made clear that this work was out of public view.

Their comments were consistent with a statement to reporters the day before the 2024 election from senior National Guard Bureau official Ellis Hopkins. Hopkins said, of the 10 states that had Guard personnel supporting the election as of that day, “None of them are in a civil disturbance or civil response mode. They’re in general support or in supporting cyber networks.”

Here’s what states told CNN last week and Monday.

Delaware: “Delaware did not have any Soldiers or Airmen at polling locations,” said Jonah Anderson, spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer. Rather, he said, 15 people from the Delaware National Guard helped with cybersecurity support. They either worked remotely or out of the state’s technology office, he said.

Illinois: Matt Dietrich, spokesperson for the Illinois elections board, said there were no state Guard troops at polling places. He said the Guard was not formally activated by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, but a small number of Guard personnel were involved in election cybersecurity work through an agreement with the elections board to help respond to any incidents; no incidents occurred. “Even if there had been an incident, it’s highly unlikely that it would have resulted in any Guard presence in a polling place. The most likely source for such an incident would have been in the office of a county clerk or board of elections,” Dietrich said in an email.

New Mexico: “There were no members of the NM National Guard at polling places in 2024, any assertion to the contrary is false,” Michael Coleman, spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said in an email. Coleman said the state Guard helps the state elections office monitor its network for cyber intrusions and provides a secure building at its Santa Fe headquarters for elections officials to monitor Election Day operations.

North Carolina: “The North Carolina National Guard did not have any personnel deployed to polling stations in the 2024 Presidential Election,” the state Guard said in an email.

Pennsylvania: “No Pennsylvania National Guard members were located at polling locations,” Wayne Hall, spokesperson for the state National Guard, said in an email. “The PANG provided liaison officers to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and City of Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management to aid in interagency coordination and information flow.” Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office added in an email that six people from the National Guard served in these liaison roles.

Texas: Texas National Guard troops “were not at polling stations” in the 2024 election, a spokesperson said in an email. Rather, “Texas National Guard service members were on standby status at a state military installation, prepared to provide emergency management support in November 2024. Two additional service members provided liaison support at an emergency operations center.”

West Virginia: “We did not have personnel present at polling stations,” Ariana Shuemake, speaking for the state Guard, said in an email. Rather, she said, “Our personnel provided cyber support.”

Spokespeople for three other states on the Stars and Stripes list of states that had reportedly activated state National Guard personnel for Election Day 2024 – Hawaii, Oregon and Washington state – said they hadn’t actually ended up doing so.

Hawaii: “The Hawaii National Guard did not ‘deploy’ or activate to support 2024 elections,” said Jeff Hickman, spokesperson for the state defense department.

Oregon: “Oregon National Guard planning occurred in 2024 but were not called up to provide any additional support to law enforcement,” said Stephen Bomar, spokesperson for the state military department. And Luke Harkins, spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek, noted that Oregon’s elections are conducted entirely by mail-in ballot without traditional in-person voting places. “The notion that the Oregon National Guard was activated at polling locations is simply false. Oregon is a 100% vote-by-mail state and has been for over two decades,” Harkins said. He added: “Any planning that took place was to be prepared in case there were disruptions at post offices and/or drop box sites.”

Washington state: “We only had troops on standby to support any civil unrest response if necessary. The election was quiet – there were no requests for support and no need to put anyone on State Active Duty. We certainly didn’t send folks to polling places,” said Karina Shagren, spokesperson for the state military department.

This story has been updated to include a response from Texas.

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