Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just dropped a political grenade: President Donald Trump is expected to try to interfere with the 2026 midterm elections — and they’re already mobilizing lawyers, lawmakers, and state officials to stop it.
Speaking in a Tuesday interview with the Associated Press, Schumer didn’t mince words about what he thinks is coming. “Trump will do whatever it takes, and he has no honor and no credibility and no respect for law,” he said, adding that Democratic senators and legal teams are actively scanning for every angle Trump could use to mess with vote count procedures or contest results.
Schumer’s comments track closely with warnings from rank‑and‑file Democrats who’ve been raising the alarm for months about the possibility of a 2026 repeat of the chaos surrounding the 2020 election — including pressure on election officials, wild lawsuits, claims of voter fraud without evidence, and other last‑minute gambits that undermined faith in the outcome.
The New York Democrat also pointed to broader Republican moves that critics say could be part of or accelerate Trump’s efforts to tilt elections in his favor. In 2025, Trump signed an executive order requiring proof of citizenship on federal voter registration forms and limiting when absentee and mail‑in ballots could be counted — actions that federal judges have repeatedly struck down.
And Trump’s influence extends beyond the executive branch. Democrats point to aggressive redistricting campaigns upported by GOP allies and the appointment of figures like Heather Honey, a former pro‑Trump election skeptic now in charge of election infrastructure at the Department of Homeland Security. They argue these moves could all feed into a broader strategy to suppress Democratic turnout or contest results after Election Day.
Schumer framed the threat in stark terms: Democrats are buildingteams of senators and lawyersfocused on every conceivable trick or legal loophole Trump could try to exploit.“We already have a team to make sure that they count the votes fairly,” he said — an extraordinary statement about preparing for potential presidential interference even before a single vote is cast.
Though Schumer’s comments center on Trump, Republicans dismiss the concern as political theater. The White House has called these warnings “fear‑mongering,” with chief of staff Susie Wiles telling *Vanity Fair* last month that claims Trump might use federal forces to intimidate or suppress voter turnout are “categorically false.”
State and local election officials — who actually run the elections — are bracing regardless. Carly Koppes, a Republican election clerk in Colorado, told reporters that at this point election workers are planning “for the worst” because they’ve become conditioned to expect unpredictable challenges and disruptions at every turn.
Schumer’s warning also ties into broader Democratic strategy: party leaders are increasingly framing midterms around themes of chaos, cost, corruption, and threat to democracy under Trump, rather than just policy disputes. Recent House and governor races where Democrats outperformed expectations are being cited by party strategists as early evidence that voters are responding to that message.
Whether Trump actually tries to block a free and fair election — or merely uses rhetoric and pressure tactics that fall short of clear legal violation — is the debate that will dominate much of 2026’s political landscape. But Schumer said Democrats are assuming Trump won’t play by the rules, and they’re gearing up for it now, not later.
