State elections chief fact-checks former GOP governor after he downplays Trump's actions

One former Republican governor got a real-time lesson from a sitting Democratic secretary of state about how President Donald Trump's rhetoric and policies are impacting poll workers.

During a Tuesday segment on MSNBC, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich suggested that Trump critics' fears of the administration disrupting the 2026 election were overblown. He insisted that leaders on both sides of the political aisle confided to him that they had no expectation of any federal interference in next fall's midterms.

"I talk to these political figures all across the country on a bipartisan basis. And the fact is, nobody is saying to me, we're not going to have one guy tell me he's really worried about what's going to happen in 2026. And that was because of the deployment of ICE in Chicago," Kasich said. "I don't want any of those people at the polling places. Keep them away. But do I think that we're going to be okay."

The former two-term governor predicted that Democrats would win back a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives despite Republicans' mid-decade gerrymandering of congressional districts. He added that Trump was simply a "guy" who "says a lot of things."

"We had a good last election. I think we'll have a good midterm," he said. "And so do I worry that we're just about to lose democracy in this country? I'm really not. I'm not really I'm not sitting here saying, 'oh my God, what's going to happen to America? I think we're going to be okay, I do."

At that point, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D), who was also on the segment, interjected. She told Kasich that while she "appreciated" his confidence in a trustworthy election, she reminded him that Trump had done multiple things that make election officials' jobs that much more difficult.

"I would encourage you to talk to more Democratic secretaries of state. Just to give you a snapshot of Colorado, we've had a 39 percent turnover in elected county clerks since 2020, in a large part because of the threat environment," Griswold said. "Just this year, Trump's first actions were to free insurrectionists, one who has now threatened [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries."

"He has disbanded a lot of the federal support we used to have to combat cyber attacks, he's weaponizing the DOJ against Democratic secretaries of state to undermine our elections, and that list goes on and on and on," she continued. "I think we're going to have good elections in 2026 and elections that hold, but it will be because of bravery and sheer willpower of elected officials on the right side of history."

Trump has already sent signals that his administration may interfere in the 2026 election. He announced recently that the DOJ would be sending election observers to California and New Jersey ahead of their statewide elections this fall, even though there are no federal races on the ballot.

Watch the segment below:

- YouTube www.youtube.com