Hegseth falsely claimed Biden sent troops to polling stations in 15 states during 2024 election
During the 2024 election, U.S. President Joe Biden deployed troops to polling locations in 15 different states.
In 15 different states, governors activated members of the National Guard to provide “cybersecurity and general support.” The governors of those states, not Biden, activated the National Guard.
During a congressional hearing on April 29, 2026, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that then-President Joe Biden sent troops to polling stations in 15 states during the 2024 election:
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. 2024, Joe Biden, troops deployed to polling locations in 15 states. Explain that one to me.
In a Senate hearing the following day, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin claimed Hegseth’s assertion was false and asked him whether he would deploy federal troops to seize voter rolls. Hegseth later repeated a slightly rephrased version of the claim, saying that “under Joe Biden’s administration, 15 states deployed” troops to polling stations.
Posts on social media in the following days, sometimes citing a report from CNN, suggested that Hegseth’s claim was false.
Snopes readers also wrote in looking for more information about the claim.
We found Hegseth’s assertion was false: Biden did not send troops to polling stations in 15 states during the 2024 election. It is a federal crime to send federal troops to voting locations, “unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”
Instead, Hegseth appeared to be stretching the truth — that governors in 15 states activated their National Guard on Election Day, mainly for cybersecurity assistance. Snopes found no evidence that any of those personnel were ever present at a polling station as part of their responsibilities.
According to reporting from The Hill and the military publication Stars and Stripes, the following states activated their National Guard to assist with “general support” and cybersecurity:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- Illinois
- North Carolina
- New Mexico
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- West Virginia
Three additional states — Colorado, Florida and Nevada — as well as Washington, D.C., placed National Guard personnel on standby, meaning they were awaiting activation but had not been asked to assist.
Snopes contacted the National Guard Bureau for comment on this story. A National Guard spokesperson confirmed via an emailed statement that Guard personnel were activated in the listed states to provide “cybersecurity and general support,” but noted that Biden had nothing to do with their activation.
“Guard members were activated under state authority under the control of their governors and adjutants general in support of civilian partners. It is important to note the Guard’s role in domestic operations is always one of support to civilian authorities,” the statement read.
The National Guard also pointed us to a Nov. 4, 2024 Pentagon news conference in which Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder emphasized that the National Guard “has ongoing and long-standing relationships with local, state and federal agency partners and has assisted with national special security events like Election Day and Inauguration Day for many years.”
State responses
Seeing as the National Guard said personnel had been activated at the request of governors, Snopes also contacted the governor’s offices in the states where troops were activated or placed on standby to ask what duties the Guard members had performed and whether they were present at polling places.
We received responses from Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and West Virginia, all of which said that no members of the National Guard were present at polling stations.
Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas acknowledged receipt of our message or forwarded our request for comment, but had not yet replied to our questions.
Jonah Anderson, a spokesperson for Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer, said that 15 personnel, working remotely or at the state’s Department of Technology and Information, performed cybersecurity support.
Retired Maj. Jeff Hickman, the public affairs director for Hawaii’s state defense department, said the governor did not “‘deploy’ or activate the Hawaiʻi National Guard to support the 2024 elections.”
Matt Dietrich, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said the state has had Illinois National Guard cybersecurity personnel “available in the event of a cybersecurity incident on Election Day and the Monday preceding Election Day” at every federal election since 2018. Dietrich also noted that the Illinois State Board of Elections requested use of the National Guard, not Gov. JB Pritzker.
Michael Coleman, a spokesperson for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said the state’s National Guard provided cybersecurity assistance and a “secure building at their Santa Fe HQ for the Secretary of State to monitor operations on Election Day.” He also pointed to a recently passed state law prohibiting a person from ordering federal troops or armed federal agents to polling places or ballot drop box locations.
Luke Harkins, press secretary for Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, noted that the state doesn’t have traditional polling sites: “Secretary Hegseth’s information is incorrect. 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.”
Wayne Hall, a public affairs officer for the Pennsylvania National Guard, said that its personnel helped the state and the city of Philadelphia’s emergency management agencies with “interagency coordination and information flow.”
Karina Shagren, a spokesperson for the state of Washington’s military department, said it “had some WA National Guard troops on standby to support any civil unrest response if necessary,” but did not deploy them.
Ariana Shuemake, a spokesperson for the West Virginia National Guard, said the National Guard provided “cyber security support.”
