Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville has warned that the GOP could resort to scandalous measures to avoid losing control of Congress following the midterms.
Carville was responding to a listener email on his Politics War Room podcast, asking whether he fears Republicans in the House and Senate might simply refuse to swear in newly elected members if it meant losing control of either chamber of Congress.
The question suggested there is precedent for such behavior, accusing House Speaker Mike Johnson of “playing games” by delaying the swearing-in of Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva for several weeks after her special election victory last year.
Politics War Room co-host Al Hunt agreed that such fears are justified and urged Democrats to seek the “best legal advice” they can to fight any GOP attempts to cling to power because “there’s nothing that they won’t do.”
“Yeah, I concur, and also just send as many early warning things as you can,” Carville replied. “Warn people they’re going to try this. The best defense against all this is an early warning system, some version of NORAD.
“You cannot talk about it enough. It’s too dangerous, and they’re going to try. You have to have not just good lawyers. You have to have good preparation. You’ve got to be ready to go when it happens, to stoke what I think would be huge outrage in this country,” Carville said.
“This is a lot harder to do than we think. I’m not saying they’re not going to try, but I think it’s going to be very hard for them to do, very hard, particularly when you’re forewarned.”
Hunt added: “But they’re going to try, no question.”
The GOP is expected to lose control of the House in November, with the party in power historically suffering major losses in the lower chamber during midterm elections, and Republicans currently holding only a razor-thin majority.
Severe backlash against Donald Trump’s second term means the Senate could also be in play for Democrats, who would have to flip at least four seats while holding all of their current seats to regain control.
In November 2025, Speaker Johnson eventually swore Grijalva into the House after a tense seven-week standoff involving her crucial role in the push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Grijalva, who won the seat previously held by her father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March 2025, had pledged to provide the 218th and decisive signature on a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing files related to Epstein, the billionaire pedophile who died in prison in 2019.
In her inaugural speech on the House floor, Grijalva accused Johnson of an “abuse of power.”
“One individual should not be able to unilaterally obstruct the swearing-in of a duly elected Member of Congress for political reasons,” she said.
