A fresh intelligence briefing has left leading Democrats warning that Russia is again trying to shape US politics — this time by targeting their candidates ahead of next month’s midterm elections with a familiar playbook of online misinformation.
The alarm was raised by Senator Mark Warner and Representative Jim Himes, who spoke as Republican President Donald Trump has in recent weeks moved to ease economic sanctions on Russia while stepping up pressure on Ukraine to end its fight against Russian forces.
Warner and Himes told reporters they had sought the election security briefing from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, but said they could disclose only limited information because the material was classified.
Even so, they said the intelligence they received pointed to the same sort of digital influence campaign the US intelligence community has tracked during the 2016, 2020 and 2024 election cycles.
“And the state of play, I would argue, is that, you know, Russia, similar to prior occasions, is going after Democrats,” Mr Warner said.
He pointed to news reports indicating that Democrat James Talarico, running for the US Senate in Texas, and Senator Jon Ossoff, seeking re-election in Georgia, “in particular are being dinged” by fake advertisements created with AI.
Russia has repeatedly denied election interference in the United States.
Mr Himes said he and Warner could not share specifics about the content or distribution of the alleged Russian messaging because the underlying information remains classified. Still, he said the tactics described in the briefing sounded familiar, calling it “the same old, same old”.
“The Russians are kind of throwing everything out there”, said Mr Himes. “Chaos, you know, don’t trust your voting machines”.
He added there was “no reason to believe” China was not also carrying out “extremely targeted” influence efforts, as US officials have said it has done in the past.
China has previously denied interfering in US elections, and the Chinese Embassy in Washington called Mr Himes’ remark “a false allegation and serious smear that has long been proved to be unfounded.”
The warnings come as recent Reuters/Ipsos polling shows Democrats holding an advantage over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, strengthening Democratic hopes of winning back control of the House of Representatives and potentially the Senate.
Democrats also said they were worried Trump could attempt to dispute election outcomes, including by alleging foreign hacking of voting infrastructure.
Mr Himes stressed that the briefing did not indicate any ability by foreign powers to break into election systems and alter vote totals.
“Nothing out there suggests that there is even the capability or the intent to do interference, whereas there is a pretty robust influence environment,” said Mr Himes.
