Timothy Snyder discussing the lesson from Hungary which is that big protest actions and elections work together. He mentions how big mobilization potential works as a deterrent mechanism to make it harder for people to rig the election when the day comes.
Protests and elections work together for two reasons. You can't have everyone out in the streets protesting the most unpopular abomination and then realistically have that abomination win an election. Not only will the masses be more convinced it was rigged–the masses will already have been mobilizing and thus are already prepared to hit the streets if the midterms are obviously rigged.
They can't do a repeat of 2024 due to record-breaking mass mobilization. The threat of potential mass mobilization is like playing with fire for those on a mission to rig the midterms.