Kamala Harris is accusing Republicans of “cheating” ahead of the November midterms, saying GOP efforts to redraw congressional districts and tighten voting rules are meant to keep people from casting ballots.
Harris made the charge during an appearance with former U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe, saying the midterms are consuming nearly all of her political attention.
“Midterms, midterms, midterms, full-time occupying my thoughts, my mind and my work,” Harris said. “We have to win these midterms. These folks are cheating. They’re redrawing lines. They’re trying to make it more difficult for people to vote so they won’t vote because they are afraid of the power of the people.”
Harris said she is spending “full-time” trying to help Democrats take back the House and Senate and “stop the madness.” She also told Rapinoe she wants to restore “some sense of sanity” to Washington.
The Republican National Committee pushed back hard. RNC election integrity communications director Ally Triolo pointed specifically to voter identification and citizenship requirements.
“Voter ID and proof of citizenship are common sense, but Democrats can’t win elections without cheating the system,” Triolo said.
Another problem for Harris as she throws herself into the midterms: some Democratic candidates would rather she stay home.
Harris has started increasing her campaign activity after keeping a relatively low profile earlier in the cycle. She has backed candidates in New Hampshire, California, Tennessee and several Senate races. But Democrats running in more competitive or Republican-leaning states have publicly rejected the idea of campaigning with her.
Wisconsin Democrat Rebecca Cooke, who is challenging Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, noted that she received 9,000 more votes than Harris in her district in 2024.
“I don’t need anyone to come and campaign with me in my district,” Cooke said. “I do the work of building relationships, including across the aisle, on my own.”
Kansas Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton was even more direct, saying bringing a California Democrat into Kansas to tell voters what to do would be “a pretty bad idea.” Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand said he does not want Harris campaigning with him during his gubernatorial bid, while Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek gave reporters a flat “No” when asked the same question.
Harris acknowledged the resistance in another recent interview, saying candidates should do whatever they believe is necessary to win.
“From my perspective, ’28 doesn’t matter if we don’t win ’26,” Harris told Rapinoe when asked about another presidential run.
The “cheating” language also comes immediately after President Donald Trump used the same word from the opposite direction at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas. Trump told supporters, “I’m going to try and cheat like hell, like they do,” while leading the crowd through a voting pledge. The remark was delivered as a jab at Democrats, not an instruction to break election laws
For Harris, the message is already set: Republicans are “cheating,” Democrats need Congress back, and she plans to spend the next several weeks making that case to the Democrats who’ll still take her calls.
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