Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Senate Democrats are conducting closed-door “doomsday” exercises to prepare for what he described as worst-case scenarios surrounding November’s midterm elections, arguing that lawmakers cannot afford to be caught unprepared.
Schumer discussed the planning effort following a two-hour simulation Wednesday, telling MS NOW host Ali Vitali that the exercises are designed to prepare Democratic senators for a variety of hypothetical situations that could arise before, during, and after Election Day.
According to Schumer, the scenarios include potential disinformation campaigns, voter-roll disruptions, and other situations that could impact the administration of elections.
“We have to prepare for it,” Schumer said. “What these so-called tabletop exercises teach us is when you’re prepared in advance, you can stop a lot of bad, bad things from happening. A lot of the stealing that [President Donald Trump] will do, but if you just wait for them to do it and then try to react that day? Not good.”
The latest exercise was attended by nearly a dozen Democratic senators. It marked the second tabletop session Schumer has organized this year and the first since President Donald Trump delivered a recent primetime address in which he questioned the integrity of the U.S. election system.
Schumer said one of the scenarios explored during the exercise involved the possible deployment of federal immigration agents near polling locations and how local officials could respond.
“What we would do is work with the local Houston Police Department, Dallas Police Department, Bexar County, San Antonio Police Department and figure out ways to stop this ahead of time,” Schumer said.
The Senate Democratic leader also rejected suggestions that rehearsing worst-case election scenarios could itself undermine confidence in the electoral process.
“In a vacuum, you might be right,” Schumer said. “But Trump is trying – and all his people are trying – to scare elections. They threaten the election officials.”
Schumer went on to argue that many Republican senators privately share his concerns but are unwilling to voice them publicly.
“If you could do a truth serum and give it to Republican senators, about 80% of them would agree he’s trying to steal the election,” Schumer said. “The trouble is, they’re too scared to say anything about it.”
He added that Democrats must continue making their case.
“But if we keep at it and keep at it and keep at it, every so often you get someone on our side. And the more we do that, the greater chance we have of stopping them, but of also winning elections so we can prevent these bad things from ever happening again.”
The exercises also come amid renewed discussion over election security following comments by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who disclosed that a software error resulted in thousands of noncitizens being registered to vote during 2023 and 2024. According to the article, several hundred ballots were ultimately cast before the problem was corrected.
Schumer characterized the incident as a “machine vendor issue” and argued it did not support Republican calls for new voter identification legislation.
Reflecting on the planning effort, Schumer acknowledged that he had never conducted this type of election preparation during his more than 40 years in Congress. Nevertheless, he said Democrats believe they must be prepared for potential election-related disputes while continuing to focus on governing.
“You have to show that you can both stop Trump and try to have government move forward,” Schumer said. “You have to. If every time Trump did one of these things we just froze, he’d win.”
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