Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan argued on NBC’s Meet the Press that his party needs to secure victories by significant margins during the 3 November midterm elections, citing concerns that Republican opponents will attempt to undermine confidence in electoral results.
El-Sayed’s remarks came as Democrats were favored to retain control of the House and potentially gain Senate seats in traditionally Republican states. The candidate was specifically asked whether Democrats needed to achieve such large vote totals that the outcome would be “too big to rig,” language previously used by former vice-president Kamala Harris. El-Sayed responded affirmatively, stating that Trump had already indicated he would contest election outcomes as he did following the 2020 presidential election.
Trump, who lost the 2020 election to then-president Joe Biden, has made numerous unsubstantiated claims about election fraud. In July, he delivered a primetime speech containing unverified claims about Chinese interference and subsequently removed members of an independent federal election commission. When asked by a right-wing broadcaster whether Trump might declare a national security emergency related to elections for the midterms, Trump replied that “stranger things have happened.” According to the New York Times, Trump has cast doubt on elections on 440 days of his second presidency, which began in early 2025.
Recent polling and political analysis indicated Democratic prospects were strengthening. The Cook Political Report revised its predictions to state that “A Senate Majority is Squarely in Democrats’ Sights.” A New York Times and Siena University poll showed Democratic Senate candidates leading in Alaska, Ohio, and Texas—states Trump won by double digits in 2024—with El-Sayed leading his opponent Mike Rogers by five points.
El-Sayed also referenced Rogers’s previous election-related assertions. Rogers, who lost a 2024 Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin after initially conceding, was reported in November 2025 to have claimed at events that fraudulent ballots cost him that race. El-Sayed characterized his current opponent as someone who was insinuating he did not legitimately lose his prior election.
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