Democrats are preparing to respond quickly to flood social media and the airwaves with calls for calm and patience during the vote count. Donald Trump attempt to prematurely claim election victory, as he did in 2020, Harris campaign and party officials told Reuters.

The Republican candidate told reporters this week that he hopes to be able to declare victory on Election Day, although election experts have warned that the final result could take several days, particularly if requests for recounts of votes are sought in some key countries. areas. Trump is locked in a very tight race with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

Winners in U.S. elections are typically declared by major media outlets that analyze vote counts provided by election officials. Although candidates sometimes declare victory before these calls are made, it is unusual to do so before the winner is at least arguably apparent.

“We are unfortunately prepared if he does that and, if we know that he is actually manipulating the press and trying to manipulate the consensus of the American people…we are prepared to respond,” Harris said in an interview Wednesday with ABC.

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She offered no details about those preparations, but six Democratic Party and Harris campaign officials said the initial fight against any claims of an early Trump victory would play out in the court of public opinion. They plan to flood social media and television airwaves with demands that all votes be counted before victories are declared.

“As soon as he (Trump) falsely declares victory, we are ready to go on television, reveal the truth and tap into a vast network of people who can use their influence to fight back,” said a senior National Committee official Democrat. said in an interview.

Harris campaign expects false declaration of victory from Trump

A senior Harris campaign official said in a conference call with reporters Friday that they “fully expected” Trump to falsely claim victory Tuesday night, before all votes were fully counted.

“He did it before it failed. If he does it again, it will fail,” the official said.

In 2020, Trump declared himself the winner early the morning after Election Day, three days before the first television networks called. He ultimately lost to his Democratic opponent Joe Biden. He never accepted the outcome and continues to falsely claim it was stolen from him through widespread fraud.

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Steve Bannon, a key Trump ally, said Trump should quickly declare victory.

“He should stand up and say, ‘Hey, I won,'” Bannon told a New York Times reporter on Tuesday, shortly after being released from federal prison, where he served four months for defiance subpoenas from Congress on January 1. .6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol.

The Trump campaign told Reuters the Republican nominee would fight for all votes until the election closes, but it did not directly answer a question about whether Trump plans to re-declare victory before the call. of the race.

One of Trump’s donors, Bill Bean, who has sometimes criticized the former president, told Reuters he hoped either Harris or Trump would win by a wide margin, so that the results would be as widely accepted as possible.

No Republican firewall

In 2020, Trump’s declaration of victory was condemned by Democrats and many high-profile Republicans. Markets responded with a shrug, with major stock indexes rising slightly in the days following the election.

But this time it might be different.

The former president has consolidated his near-total control over the Republican Party in the years since, meaning many influential conservatives may be more willing to rally around his claims, several political strategists said.

“We’ve seen plenty of evidence that he’s in total control of the party … and we’ve seen no evidence that party officials or elected officials would respond,” said Chip Felkel, a longtime Republican strategist who is critical of Trump.

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Trump and his Republican allies have also spent months laying the groundwork to challenge a loss by saying noncitizens could try to vote Democratic and preparing an army of lawyers to go to court to challenge the results.

At his rallies, Trump often says they need to make sure their victory is “too important to fake.”