Himes Says Trump Is Laying Groundwork to Dispute Midterm Results

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on October 7 that both foreign governments and President Donald Trump are working to erode public confidence in American elections, CT Mirror reported.

Himes, who represents Connecticut's 4th District, said Trump has "never accepted the results of an election that he didn't like," and argued the president is preparing to dispute the outcome of the midterm elections if Republicans lose. He pointed to a speech Trump gave in July asserting that foreign actors had interfered in U.S. voting, and said prediction markets such as Polymarket suggest an unfavorable Election Day for the president.

In an October 4 social media post, Trump compared Brazil's centrally administered presidential election with vote counting in American cities, writing that results in places including Detroit and Philadelphia can take weeks. U.S. elections are administered by local officials, and every state except Louisiana uses paper ballots, according to CT Mirror.

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement that Trump has gone further than any previous president to secure free and fair elections, and defended measures such as voter identification and citizenship verification. She did not address Himes' assertion about challenging the results.

The briefing had been scheduled several days in advance, CT Mirror reported.

This story was first reported by CT Mirror.