Trevor Potter
Former Federal Election Commission chair who founded and leads the Campaign Legal Center.
Judge David O. Carter ended the federal case over about 20,000 California mail ballots on 10 November after the Justice Department pulled it; the Campaign Legal Center, which Potter leads, says immigration-record voter lists wrongly flag naturalised citizens.
Last refreshed: 11 November 2026
Timeline for Trevor Potter
Judge Carter closes DOJ's ballot suit
US Midterms 2026Mentioned in: Fairshake FEC Receipts Fall $59M Below Claims
US Midterms 2026Background
Potter sat on the Federal Election Commission from 1991 to 1995, nominated by President George H. W. Bush, and served as its chairman. He co-founded the Campaign Legal Center in 2002 and is its president.
He was general counsel to John McCain's 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns and counsel to Stephen Colbert's 2011 Super PAC.
His centre argues that voter lists built from federal immigration records flag naturalised citizens whose files were never updated. That was the weakness in the 20,000 names the Justice Department wanted set aside in California before it withdrew its suit. Earlier this cycle Potter judged that the $59m gap between Fairshake's claimed and FEC-filed receipts most likely reflected commitments not yet reportable.
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 11 November 2026. Editorial standards.