TRANSCRIPT: At A Center For American Progress Conference, Leader Schumer Spoke On Senate Democrats’ Plan To Protect Free And Fair Elections From Donald Trump’s Election Scheme

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke at the Center for American Progress Ideas conference today, where he highlighted Senate Democrats' plan to protect free and fair elections from Donald Trump's coordinated campaign to rig the 2026 election before a single vote is cast. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks:

Thank you to the Center for American Progress for bringing us all together - especially Neera Tanden, let's give a shoutout to her, for her steadfast leadership.

Now, you've heard a lot today about 2028. About our party, our country, and the ideas that will shape America's future.

But I want to start with the truth at the center of all of it: we don't get to build the future if Donald Trump gets to rig the rules and cherry-pick who has a voice in our democracy.

No economic agenda matters if Trump intimidates voters.

No health care plan matters if Republicans can choose the electorate before the electorate chooses them.

No vision for 2028 matters if 2026 is not free and fair.

So let me say this plainly: the fight for the future is already here. And Senate Democrats will win that fight.

Trump is already escalating attacks on our elections for one reason: he knows his agenda is failing.

Costs are too high. Families are getting squeezed. His approval is falling. And the American people are seeing through the same old Trump grift: rig the system, enrich himself - you saw what he just did with his tax returns when you were here, he's going to exempt him and his family from all tax investigation or persecution. Can you believe this? And with him you never know how low he goes. He's going to enrich himself and blame everyone else and dare people to stop him.

He's fleecing American families to line his own pockets without doing a thing about the costs, chaos, corruption endemic to his administration.

And when Donald Trump cannot win people over, he tries to shut people out.

When he cannot defend his record, he attacks the rules.

And when he thinks he is losing, he does what he has done his entire life: he tries to cheat his way through.

For months, for months, Trump's been sowing seeds of doubt about the midterms, claiming that if Republicans don't win, the elections must be rigged.

And last week, when asked whether he'd deploy his masked agents to polling stations for the midterms, Donald Trump said, "I'd do anything necessary."

And we all know what that really means: Donald Trump will do everything necessary to make sure he wins.

Donald Trump and the GOP know they're losing right now.

Inflation just hit its worst level in years. The cost of everything from gas to groceries to health care to housing is through the roof.

And Americans know who caused it: Donald Trump.

77% of American blame their high cost of living on the president. Only 30% of them approve of his handling of the economy. And even fewer believe Trump's war with Iran-which has sent gas soaring toward $5.00 a gallon-has been worthwhile.

If Republicans wanted to win back voters, they could change their policies.

They could lower costs.

They could protect health care.

They could stop handing favors to billionaires and corrupt buddies.

They could try - just once, just once - to make life easier for working families.

With policies so unpopular, what do wannabe autocrats do? They launch a coordinated, multi-front campaign to subvert the election.

That is what the SAVE Act is all about. Republicans call it election integrity. It is not.

It is voter suppression with a suit and tie.

Right now, in Congress, Trump's MAGA majorities are trying to usher in Jim Crow 2.0 by pushing the SAVE Act to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters. Up to now we have thwarted them, but the fight goes on. Donald Trump will not give up on his fight to subvert the elections and we must be ever, ever vigilant.

The SAVE Act would purge millions of American citizens. People in this room would show up at their voting place, the same place they have voted at year after year, and they'd say sorry you're no longer on the books. What do I do? Well, next week call the board of elections. It is estimated that over 20 million people, many of them people of color, many of them in blue areas, would lose their right to vote under this SAVE Act. And it's all done through a screening algorithm designed by Donald Trump, Russell Vought, and Elon Musk's DOGE squad.

As I've been saying for months, it's Jim Crow 2.0. And when I say that it steams up the MAGA-right, they go after me because they know it's true, and they also know it's the only way they can win the election.

The SAVE Act would make it harder for eligible Americans to register to vote. It would put up new barriers for working people, seniors, students, rural voters, married women who changed their names, and communities of color.

The SAVE Act would also dismantle the most common and accessible ways to register to vote.

Mail-in registration? Gone.

Registering at churches and college campuses? Illegal.

Registering when you get your driver's license or sign up for Social Security? No more.

Under the SAVE Act, the only path to register to vote, once they kick you off the rolls, would be in person at a state or local election office, which is out of the question for many voters.

So, that's not about protecting democracy.

It's about protecting Republicans from the American people and from democracy.

And the SAVE Act is only one piece of the scheme.

Trump has elevated election deniers.

He has threatened election officials.

He has attacked mail voting.

His administration has gone after voter data.

He has targeted democracy organizations. Amazing what they try to come up with.

On the Supreme Court, the radical, Republican-appointed majority is doing its part to gut the Voting Rights Act after chipping away at it for years.

Advancing Trump's demand for Republicans to redraw congressional districts to steal seats mid-decade is a blatant attempt to prevent a Democratic majority in the House. It's shameful. Chief Justice Roberts, that ain't calling balls and strikes.

And now, the right-wing Supreme Court is continuing to weaken voting rights, to invite more gerrymandering, and open the door to more chaos in many different rulings before the midterms.

Let's call this what it is: a coordinated campaign to rig the 2026 election before a single vote is cast.

Trump's unprecedented plan to rig the 2026 election requires an unprecedented response.

That's why I'm launching Senate Democrats' Election Protection Task Force - the most expansive election protection effort our caucus has ever undertaken.

This is not a messaging exercise. It is a real operation before, during, and after Election Day. We're going to have lawyers, observers, rapid-response teams, cybersecurity experts, coordinating with state and local officials, all ready in key battlegrounds and high-risk jurisdictions to protect voters, election workers, to protect the count, and the certification process.

Our task force is bringing together 11 Senators and some of the sharpest elections experts in the country - people like Marc Elias, and Eric Holder, Vanita Gupta, Norm Eisen, and Skye Perryman, and so many others. We're meeting and talking on a weekly basis.

We will work with state and local officials.

We will identify where voters and election workers are most at risk.

And we will be ready to respond the moment Trump, or his allies, try to intimidate voters, interfere with the count, disrupt a recount, or corrupt a certification.

We are already preparing and we will mount lawsuit after lawsuit at every stage of the process.

Mark my words: we are ready to protect free and fair elections at every polling place, every precinct, every county office, every courthouse.

Let me be very clear: local officials run elections. Voters decide elections. Donald Trump does not.

This is not about process.

It is about power.

Republicans are already ignoring your wages, your health care, your rent, your grocery bill, and your freedom.

Now they want to ignore your vote.

That is what Trump's election scheme is about.

But in America, voters choose their leaders - leaders do not choose their voters.

So, in conclusion: the fight for 2028 starts now in 2026. And Senate Democrats are going to fight like hell to make sure our elections belong to the voters - not to Donald Trump.

###

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet