During MS NOW’s Texas Senate Primary election coverage, the new helm of the spin-off network’s election big board, Ali Velshi said American elections could turn into elections in Russia and Iran with meaningless ballots. He then stated he felt a groundswell movement, as seen with anti-DOGE and Minneapolis’s protests, would rise to vote in the upcoming midterms to stop it.
The discussion of Ken Paxton’s win in the Texas Senate primary turned into a discussion over the redistricting battle in red and blue states.
With NBC News taking Steve Kornacki in the divorce from MS NOW, Velshi wore the vest as his new signature outfit in an attempt to cement himself as MS NOW’s election guy, Velshi gave his own analysis and repeated Democratic talking points of fairness.
He thought that “regular people” would rise to vote in backlash against redistricting:
I think what we have not anticipated is the degree to which regular people, whether they consider themselves conservatives or liberals, progressives or conservatives, do not think this system is fair, and it's getting less and less fair.
Velshi then theorized:
As much as the math is done and the people who do this redistricting really figure it out, and they really think they're going to win more seats, I think you may see something else, particularly with the end of the voting rights act, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana versus Calais, and the feeling that a lot of black people who are still alive remember about the fights that led up to the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in 1964 and 1965.
Amid MS NOW's Texas election coverage, Ali Velshi said American elections could be alike to Russian and Iranian elections after the Callais decision. He also felt another 'groundswell movement,' like the anti-DOGE and Minneapolis unrest, would rise to vote in the midterms. pic.twitter.com/9bT5ngEYzR
— Nick (@nspin310) May 27, 2026
After his election prediction, he equated a possible midterm election redistricting-based movement to Minneapolis protests against ICE and anti-DOGE protests:
I think you are going to see a groundswell movement like the ones we saw last year after DOGE, like the ones we saw after the invasions by the federal agents of Minneapolis.
He said the new “groundswell movement” would be focused on the idea of “don't wreck our politics,” before he likened the possible future of American elections to Iran's and Russia’s:
There are lots of countries where people still vote. Iran is one of them. Russia is one of them. People still cast a ballot, but the ballot means virtually nothing.
We are approaching a place in America where for some people, the ballot will mean nothing.”
After his comparison, Velshi ended by imploring to the viewers to vote in the election:
And this might be your chance between now and November to have enough influence to say, not only will I keep my vote, but my vote will still have meaning.
Velshi might as well have been the leader of his proposed midterm election groundswell movement.
11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle ended the segment with praise of Velshi, who will be the new host of the nighttime show starting June 15th when Ruhle moved to host a 9 a.m. program on the same network:
Listen to Ali Velshi when he's at the big board. I realize he looks like he's there to tell you the weather, and then you're confused because he's in that winter vest. But no, he's here for the data, and he's the best at it.
In place of Kornacki, a more amenable election numbers presenter who stayed at NBC News after the Versant spin-off, Velshi represented the complete full turn of MS NOW to lessen actual journalists with a turn to a constant progressive spin.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
May 26, 2026
11:18:00 PM Eastern
(...)
ALI VELSHI: I think what we have not anticipated is the degree to which regular people, whether they consider themselves conservatives or liberals, progressives or conservatives, do not think this system is fair, and it's getting less and less fair.
So, as much as the math is done and the people who do this redistricting really figure it out, and they really think they're going to win more seats, I think you may see something else, particularly with the end of the voting rights act, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana versus Calais, and the feeling that a lot of black people who are still alive remember about the fights that led up to the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in 1964 and 1965.
I think you are going to see a groundswell movement like the ones we saw last year after DOGE, like the ones we saw after the invasions by the federal agents of Minneapolis.
I think you're going to start to see a groundswell movement to say, don't wreck our politics, because once you remove the agency - There are lots of countries where people still vote. Iran is one of them. Russia is one of them. People still cast a ballot, but the ballot means virtually nothing.
We are approaching a place in America where for some people, the ballot will mean nothing. And this might be your chance between now and November to have enough influence to say, not only will I keep my vote, but my vote will still have meaning.
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Listen to Ali Velshi when he's at the big board. I realize he looks like he's there to tell you the weather, and then you're confused because he's in that winter vest. But no, he's here for the data, and he's the best at it.
(...)
