Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he expects Republican President Donald Trump to try to interfere in the midterm elections and said raids by immigration agents in major cities are creating a sense of chaos that voters will reject in November.
The comments were part of a wide-ranging 20-minute phone interview with the New York Democrat conducted by The Associated Press. The New York Democrat believes former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola’s Senate bid would provide his party a path to a majority.
Schumer said voters’ concerns about the economy have begun to deepen, and Democrats plan to campaign around the cost, chaos and corruption caused by the Trump administration.
The White House called such remarks by Democrats “scaremongering” to score political points.
This is an edited transcript of the interview.
Expect Trump to intervene
Q: Some predict that Trump will try to prevent open and fair midterm elections and are expected to dispute the results. Do you share the same concerns?
A: We share them, and we’ve got teams of senators and lawyers looking at all the ways Trump might try to screw things up and we’re fighting those. We already have a team in place to make sure they count the votes fairly. And, remember, much of the election machinery is done by the states. Even in red states, there is resistance to Trump’s intervention.
Trump will do whatever it takes, he has no honor, no credibility, and no respect for the law. However, we are ready and believe we will succeed.
The impact of ICE raids on the election
Q: What impact do you think the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids will have on the midterm elections?
Answer: People don’t like clutter. They see cities and mayors that were completely calm and safe now going through all this chaos. And, like I said, cost comes first. But it’s cost, corruption and confusion. People don’t like it. While Trump said he would protect Iranian protesters, he also went after Minneapolis protesters and other innocent civilians. It means nothing to people.
Trump and the economy
Q: In your opinion, will the economic factors that have dissatisfied much of the voting public persist in this election year?
Answer: Of course. The number one thing that bothers American families is their inability to pay all their bills.
Cost is the primary concern. Cost of living, affordability, you name it. But that’s the No. 1 problem, and now they realize Trump screwed them over on all of this.
On health care, not extending the Affordable Care Act tax credit; on energy, raising electricity bills through tariffs by eliminating clean energy, wind and solar, which causes everything to go up in price. So, people now realize that Trump is hurting them.
In terms of reducing people’s costs, we will focus on five issues. They are health care, housing, tariffs – you know, the cost of goods – food prices due to food monopolies, and child care.
Trump and the Republican Party are in a bubble and they don’t understand this. They ignore that and that’s why we’re getting better and better.
mid-term congressional environment
Q: If we look at 25 to 30 seats changing hands in the House, is that directly related to what might happen in the Senate?
A: Look, at the beginning of[last year]people were saying, “Well, there’s a chance of winning the House, but there’s no chance of winning the Senate.” But because of the issues that I talked about, and the fact that the House and Senate are basically in sync on these issues, and the fact that we’re on their side resonates with the American people, I think the difference between the likelihood of winning the House and the likelihood of winning the Senate has narrowed a lot.
Q: Yet at this moment, at the beginning of the midterm elections, do you agree that the path for Democrats to return to the Senate majority is narrow?
A: I say this is a much wider path than the skeptics thought and much wider than it was three months ago and certainly a year ago. And it’s getting better and better, and we think we have a good chance of winning back the Senate.
Young non-white Trump voters
Q: As you know, in the last election, young voters and non-white voters leaned toward Trump. What’s your plan? What will it take for Democrats to win their support?
A: The cost issue has definitely had an impact. Look at the 2025 elections. Look at how (Democrat Abigail) Spanberger won Virginia by 15 points and (Democrat Mickey) Sherrill won 13 points (in the 2025 gubernatorial race). But it’s not just these two states. We won the election in Georgia. We won elections across the country. That’s because voters, young or old, poor or middle-class, don’t think Trump has served them well. So, things have completely changed for Trump.
In large part, we help achieve this by focusing on costs.
___
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
