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Neil Vigdor
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, dismissed concerns on Monday that American democracy was facing a grave threat.
Speaking at a chamber of commerce luncheon in Scott County, Ky., Mr. McConnell challenged the idea that democracy was under siege. He was responding to a question about a recent NBC News poll that identified threats to democracy as the top concern of respondents, followed by inflation.
“Our democracy is solid,” Mr. McConnell said. “And I don’t think — of the things that we need to worry about, I wouldn’t be worried about that one.”
Earlier in his remarks, Mr. McConnell did acknowledge that the issue of democracy was an important one and recalled the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
“There were those who were trying to prevent the orderly transfer of power for the first time in American history,” he said. “That was not good. It was thwarted.”
Mr. McConnell brought up the issue of election fraud in response to the same question. He said there was “very little voter fraud,” a contrast to false claims by former President Donald J. Trump of widespread irregularities.
In a recording of his remarks from ABC News that contains some brief gaps in audio and video, Mr. McConnell did not appear to specify whether he was referring to a lack of fraud in Kentucky or the whole United States — and a spokesman for Mr. McConnell, David Popp, declined to elaborate on Tuesday about his comments.
Mr. McConnell’s portrayal of election fraud as a minor issue could antagonize Mr. Trump. Even Republicans who do not embrace Mr. Trump’s false claims of a “stolen” election in 2020 have argued that U.S. elections are somehow insecure. Republican-led legislatures across the country have made it harder to vote, arguing that restrictions will prevent voter fraud, even as experts note that fraud is rare and often accidental. Mr. McConnell’s comments seem at odds with many in his party.
“There is some,” he said of election fraud. “I mean, we’ve had people in Kentucky go to jail for that. It happens occasionally.”
CBS News reported that Mr. McConnell also predicted at the event that Republicans had a “50-50” chance in the midterm elections of taking control of the Senate, where Democrats hold half the seats and the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Mr. McConnell’s remarks about the state of U.S. democracy and his party’s prospects in November came about a week after he suggested that “candidate quality” could be an Achilles’ heel for Republicans in their quest to take control of the Senate.
He quickly drew backlash this weekend from Mr. Trump, who called him a “broken down hack politician.”
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