With less than a week until the 2026 midterm elections, as candidates press the flesh, outgoing Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said he’s very worried about possible interference with the counting of ballots.
Durbin, who is retiring after 30 years in the Senate, said he’s excited about how the midterm elections are trending for his fellow Democrats, but anxious about potential interference in the counting of votes.
"With the election coming, I know there’s going to be change, and I don’t know how much," he said.
Durbin will step down at the end of his term in January. He said he’s excited about the possibility of a Democratic wave becoming reality, and Democrats taking control of the House and possibly even the Senate.
"I’d love to be there if the election turns out as I hope it will, to be part of reclaiming some of the values that I think have been lost in the first two years of this president’s second term," he said.
President Trump has left Durbin nervous about next week.
"My greatest fear is that there will be somebody in that administration, the Trump administration, who will try to undermine this election, try to hold back from counting some votes they don’t want to see cast, and that will be disruptive of our Constitution," he said. "I worry about it. This president has prosecuted his political enemies. He has never accepted the outcome of the 2020 election, which he lost by 7 million votes. He’s never accepted that."
The president was asked on Tuesday whether he’ll accept the results of next week’s elections.
"I will if they’re honest elections, yeah," President Trump said.
Durbin predicted that history will remember President Trump as "the most corrupt president in the history of the United States."
"He doesn’t do things behind closed doors. He throws the doors open and says, ‘So what?’ He made $1.4 billion [off cryptocurrency ventures] in his first year of this presidency? My God," Durbin said.
The senator said the Nov. 3 election is "our chance to speak to the future."
"I know what I’d like to see, and I hope it occurs. Whatever occurs,I think we all have to be prepared to accept the reality of it," he said.
Durbin, who said he crafted bipartisan legislation with the first Trump White House, said something has changed during President Trump’s second term.
"I don’t know what’s happened with President Trump in his second term, but he’s a different man," he said.
The senator said he has no regrets about retiring. He’s bullish on Democrats’ chances to take control of Congress, but he is nervous about the possibility of something emerging to get in the way of a free and fair election.
Region: Chicago,Politics,City: Chicago
via Politics – CBS Chicago https://ift.tt/pO4NDTr
October 28, 2026 at 04:51PM
