US midterms: Concern about a new election lie from Trump

Midterm elections in the USA Concern about a new election lie Trump's As of: October 24th, 2026 • 6:10 a.m

Ever since Trump lost to Biden six years ago, he has denied the election results. The lie is doctrine in his party; many US citizens have internalized it. What if the Republicans lose the midterm elections?

The claim that elections in the USA are unsafe and even fraudulent - this is a tenet of belief in large parts of the Republican Party.

Donald Trump laid the foundation for this. Since 2020, he has been spreading what critics call “the Big Lie”: Back then, it was not Joe Biden who won the presidential election, but he.

Since then, Republicans have only cast doubt on elections in which their candidates lost. This also goes back to Trump, who said in 2016 during his first run for president at an event in the US state of Ohio:

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Even now, before the congressional elections, hardly a day goes by without Trump once again sowing doubts about the electoral system. That has consequences.

One young man told NPR: "You hear things like this: elections are stolen, elections are rigged. That's definitely something that stays in the back of your mind. Especially when you go to the polling station and cast your vote. You wonder, does what we're doing here even matter? Or is there someone out there influencing the process in different ways?"

In a recent Gallup poll, only 37 percent of Republican supporters surveyed said they believed in the fairness of the country's elections.

What if Trump doesn't accept election defeats by his Republicans like he did six years ago? Leading Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have already played out this scenario - as have the prosecutors and interior secretaries of all states governed by Democrats.

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Republican Kate Brophy McGee is responsible for running elections in Maricopa County, Arizona. She defends herself against Trump's claim that election manipulation is widespread.

"Maricopa County is considered a benchmark for security in conducting transparent elections where voters have free access to ballots and ballot boxes," said Brophy McGee. There are people like her all over the country: Republicans running the polls and contradicting Trump's Big Lie.

Thomas Massey, outgoing Republican member of the House of Representatives, is also calling on his party colleagues to finally become sensible when it comes to elections.

"I don't think the problem is that our elections aren't secure. Because we have control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the White House and to some extent the Supreme Court," Massey said. "That's why I ask my Republican colleagues: Why are you complaining about voter fraud? We've won every damn election."

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In the USA, the conduct of all elections is the responsibility of the states. This means the president has virtually no ability to intervene.

Professor Grant Reeher, a political scientist at Syracuse University in New York State, is therefore concerned about the days after Election Day.

"My fear is that if Trump doesn't get the results he wants, there could be attempts to take the votes of individual states and claim that they need to be verified because there is a suspicion that something went wrong," said Reeher. If that were to happen, it would be a catastrophe with serious implications for US democracy.

This topic in the program: BR24 Radio | News | Oct 20, 2026 | 3:51 p.m