Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he expects Republican President Donald Trump to try to interfere with the midterm elections, and he says 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 Associated Press telephone interview with the New York Democrat, who argued former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola's entry into the Senate race gives his party a path to the majority.
Schumer said that economic concerns have begun to cement in the minds of voters and that Democrats have plans to build their campaign around the costs, chaos and corruption they attribute to the Trump administration.
The White House has called such Democratic statements “fearmongering” to score political points.
This is an edited transcript of the interview.
Q: Some are predicting Trump will try to prevent an open and fair midterm election and would be expected to dispute the results. Do you share those concerns?
A: We share them, and we already have teams of both senators and lawyers looking at every way that Trump could try to screw things up, and we’re fighting against it. We already have a team to make sure that they count the votes fairly. And, remember, still, a lot of the election mechanisms are done by the states. And even in red states, there’s resistance to Trump interfering.
Trump will do whatever it takes, and he has no honor and no credibility and no respect for law. But, we are prepared for it, and we believe we will succeed.
Q: What impact do you think the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are having on the midterms early on?
A: People don’t like chaos. They see that cities and mayors who were perfectly calm and safe are now undergoing all of this chaos. And, you know, as I said, cost is number one. But it’s costs, corruption and chaos. The people don’t like it. And Trump, at the same time he's saying he wants to protect the protesters in Iran, he is going after protesters and other innocent civilians in Minneapolis. Makes no sense to people.
Q: Does it seem to you like economic factors that are dissatisfying to a lot of the voting public are durable in this election year?
A: Absolutely. The number one thing that bothers American families is they can't pay all the bills.
The costs is the number one issue. The cost of living, affordability, call it what you will. But it’s the number one issue, and now they realize that Trump is screwing them up on all of this.
On health care, with not extending the ACA tax credits, on energy, by getting rid of clean energy, wind and solar, raising their electric bills with tariffs, which is making the price of everything go up. So, people now realize that Trump is hurting them.
We are going to focus on five issues in terms of lowering people’s costs. They are health care, housing, tariffs — you know, costs of goods — food prices, because of food monopolies, and child care.
Trump and the Republicans are in a bubble, and they don't understand it. They are ignoring it, and that's why things keep getting better and better for us.
Q: If we are looking at, in the House, 25 to 30 seats changing hands, is there a direct correlation to what can happen in the Senate?
A: Look, at the beginning of (last) year, people said, “Well, there's a chance to win the House and no chance to win the Senate.” But because of the issues that I've talked about and because the House and Senate have been largely in sync on those issues and it's resonating with the American people how we're on their side, I think that the difference between the likelihood of winning the House and the likelihood of winning the Senate has greatly decreased.
Q: Yet at this very moment, at the beginning of the midterm year, would you agree that Democrats have a narrow path back to the Senate majority?
A: I say it is a much wider path than the skeptics think, and a much wider path than it was three months ago and certainly a year ago. And it keeps getting better and better, and we think we have a really good chance of winning back the Senate.
Q: Younger and non-white voters drifted toward Trump in the last election, as you know. What is your plan, and what will it take for Democrats to win them over?
A: The cost issue is really having an effect already. Look at the elections of 2025. Look at how (Democrat Abigail) Spanberger won by 15 points in Virginia and (Democrat Mikie) Sherrill won by 13 points (in 2025 governor's races). But it wasn't just those two states. We won elections in Georgia. We won elections across the country. And that is because voters, young and old, poor and middle class, don't think Trump was serving them well. So, there's been a whole turnaround about Trump.
And in large part, we helped make it happen by focusing on costs.
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during the Senate Democrat policy luncheon news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
