Trump Says He’ll Accept Midterm Results If He Deems Them “Honest”

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump told reporters that he would only accept the results of the 2026 midterm elections if he felt they were “honest” — echoing statements he’s made in the past while peddling baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.

When asked by journalists if he would “respect” the results of the midterms, Trump indicated his response may depend on the elections’ outcome.

“I will, if they’re honest elections, yeah,” Trump said. He then walked away, seemingly to avoid follow-up questions.

Trump’s recent remarks echo other statements he’s made regarding election integrity.

In February, for example, he said that he would only accept the results of the midterms if he deemed them “honest.” If not, Trump added, then “something else has to happen.” The president didn’t elaborate on what he meant.

In the spring of 2024, Trump similarly said he’d only accept the 2024 election results “if everything’s honest,” saying that, if it wasn’t, he would “have to fight for the right of the country.” Trump ended up winning that race, but afterward made grandiose claims that he had won with a mandate, despite not winning a majority of the vote and having one of the narrowest Electoral College victories in U.S. history.

Trump has peddled baseless claims that widespread fraud has affected election results over the past decade, particularly in the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden. In that year’s race, Trump repeatedly indicated a reluctance to accept the pending results, stating in July of that year that he would “have to see” the results before accepting them.

Months later, when Biden won over Trump, the latter refused to accept the outcome, filing dozens of lawsuits and ranting online about supposed fraud he could never prove. He eventually invited his loyalists to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, the day the Electoral College was set to be certified. Following Trump’s incendiary speech that morning, a mob of his followers attacked the Capitol building with Congress inside, delaying the certification of the election.

Trump has continued to sow doubts about elections, including the upcoming 2026 midterms, with his administration publishing questionable reports suggesting that tens of thousands of voters are registered illegally. He has pressured states to remove these residents from voter rolls, and has called for Republicans to “nationalize” elections based on his claims, despite constitutional restraints that place control of elections in the hands of states.

Trump’s most brazen attempt to interfere with this year’s elections took place in Alaska last week, when he ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to preemptively sue to block the state from certifying a U.S. Senate election if the incumbent Republican, a loyalist to the president, lost the race.

These and other actions and statements from Trump have sparked doubt among voters that he will accept the midterm results, especially if Democrats win one or both houses of Congress, which they are currently favored to do. A recent Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 7 in 10 voters are not confident that Trump will respect the election outcomes.

Some observers have posited that Trump could be attempting to create just enough distrust among his base for Republicans to justify refusing to certify the midterm results. In one such scenario, GOP Speaker of the House Mike Johnson could replace the House Clerk, or pressure the current one, telling whoever is in that position that they must refuse to seat election winners due to supposed voter irregularities.

Election experts say that such a move would likely be illegal and blocked by the courts. But given Trump’s history — and Johnson’s willingness to block election winners from assuming office before — many are worried that partisan maneuvers by Republicans are within the realm of possibility.