Democrats prep for doomsday election scenarios
This is the July 23, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
— Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on the war with Iran
WASHINGTON — For two hours Wednesday, away from the cameras, in a room just steps away from the Senate chamber, a group of powerful lawmakers rehearsed for some of their darkest fears about November’s midterm elections: disinformation triggering voter-roll purges in key states before Election Day, National Guard troops deployed to polling places as voters cast their ballots and the machinery of a free election seizing up in real time.
Almost a dozen senators, seated at long tables arranged in a U-shape, with notepads and water bottles before them, were walked through three hypothetical situations set before, on and after Election Day 2026. At points, screens displayed mocked-up graphics or artificial intelligence-generated videos that could be used to sow disinformation.
The exercises are part of a broader effort by Democrats — both inside government and out — to prepare for anything ahead of November. Republicans often decry their fears as hyperbolic. They may yet be right.
Read the full story on MS NOW.
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CHART OF THE DAY
Source: Fox News survey of 1,003 registered voters conducted July 17-20, 2026. Margin of error ± 3 percentage points.
WHAT THEY SAID
Eugene Robinson on Trump’s rally
“It’s a very, very odd choice to make fun of the concept of affordability when, in fact, it’s a huge issue in the lives of most Americans.”
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Ali Vitali is MS NOW’s senior congressional correspondent and the host of “Way Too Early.” She is the author of “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet.”
