With polls indicating that the Democrats are poised to win big in the midterm elections, the Trump administration is already attempting to mount legal challenges in certain races and cast doubt on the results.

A post published last month by the Center for Renewing America, an influential right-wing think tank, suggests a more radical strategy, asserting that a number of Democrats could be prevented from holding office even if they win their elections.

The post, titled, “Can Congress Seat a Member-Elect Who Vows to Destroy our Constitution?” argues even winning candidates from what it believes to be a purported “Red-Green Alliance” between “neo-Marxist progressives and anti-Western Muslims,” can and should be kept from being seated in Congress. The post, in effect, claims that Muslim and progressive candidates don’t have to be legally accepted into their elected positions.

“This is another attempt to contort and twist basic norms that have never been used this way for their own partisan purposes,” says Richard Pildes, a professor at New York University’s School of Law.

The CRA was founded by Russell Vought, one of the main architects of Project 2025 and now the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought faced criticism for his anti-Muslim comments—he once said that Muslims had a “deficient theology” and “do not know God”—when was nominated for OMB director during the first Trump administration.

The Center for Renewing America (CRA) did not respond to a request for comment.

Though Vought has described himself and allies, including members of the CRA, as “radical constitutionalists,” he has taken several steps that have infringed on the powers of other branches of government to expand the power of the executive branch.

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