2025 elections boost Democrats with strong economy focus strategy

The economy, which is the issue that bothers the Democrats in the 2024 elections, has given them great momentum in this year’s ballot box showdowns.

“Look, we know what’s important right now,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin said at the DNC’s winter meeting earlier this month. “S‑‑‑ too expensive.”

A year after deep concerns about inflation helped President Donald Trump and Republicans win back the White House and Senate and maintain the House majority, Democrats say their decisive victory in last month’s 2025 elections and their outperformance in special elections and other ballot box showdowns this year are due to their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation.

Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Meghan Meehan-Draper said New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill and Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger, who dominated the polls en route to double-digit Election Night victories in blue-leaning states, “stayed laser-focused on the economy” and “talked about it all day, every day.”

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The issue also led one-time far-left candidate Zohran Mamdani to win the mayoralty in New York City, and he made the cost of living a centerpiece of his campaign.

Democrats say they will further focus on the affordability issue heading into next year’s midterm elections as they try to win back the congressional majority from Republicans.

The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said Democrats will continue to focus directly on affordability as they aim to “take back those gavels” by capturing the House majority in next year’s midterm elections.

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House Democrats need to flip just three GOP-held seats in 2026 to regain control of the chamber for the first time in four years.

“We will hold Republicans accountable for their policies that harm American families,” Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state, who chairs the DCCC for the second consecutive year, told Fox News Digital.

DelBene said he will continue to focus squarely on affordability as he aims to “take back those gavels.”

“This was theirs,” he said, pointing to last year’s election. [Republicans] big message. They would reduce costs. This was a big unfulfilled promise and people are feeling it and it has had a big impact and will continue. “People want people who will stand up for them, not just blind loyalty to the president.”

But the opponent’s chairman is GOP Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina. National Republican Congressional CommitteeSpeaking to Fox News Digital, he underscored the Republican narrative targeting former President Joe Biden: “There are challenges to the economy because Biden broke it, and House Republicans working with President Trump are going to fix it, and we’re working hard to do that.”

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It’s an argument that Trump has persistently pointed to his predecessor for high costs in recent weeks.

“I inherited a mess when I took office last January, and I’m, very simply, fixing it,” Trump said this month.

But recently Fox News national poll It was full of obvious warning signs for Trump and the GOP.

Three-quarters of voters surveyed viewed economy Many respondents, including Republicans, said the costs of food, utilities, health care and housing have increased this year.

The poll showed that voters blame the president, and nearly twice as many people point the finger at Trump than at former presidents. Joe Bidenwhen asked who is responsible for the current economy.

Trump’s approval rating for the economy has fallen to record lows in polls conducted by Fox News and other outlets.

Although Trump has repeatedly described Democrats’ focus on affordability as a “hoax,” he has become more involved in the fight against high prices in recent weeks, with the president reducing some tariffs and promising to reduce high food prices. And Trump stopped in two key battleground states this month—Pennsylvania and North Carolina—to tout efforts to combat high prices.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about inflation at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Trump was buoyed last week by better-than-expected government reports on inflation and economic growth, and Republicans expect better days to come when it comes to affordability.

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley, the Trump-backed Republican Senate candidate in next year’s race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, told Fox News Digital: “We’re already seeing signs that the economy is starting to accelerate and the President’s policies are starting to take hold as he starts to implement them.”

“2026 is the year of affordability, and the great news is that President Trump is producing over and over again,” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Fox News Digital.

Pointing to the tax cut provisions in the GOP’s comprehensive domestic policy measure signed into law by Trump last summer, Scott said, “2026 will be a year when Donald Trump’s activities, his actions, the legislation we pass, will be revealed for American voters. Additionally, consumers all over the country will see a more affordable economy, as President Trump and the Senate majority and the House majority are in the hands of the Republican Party.”

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But Martin and the Democrats see it differently.

The DNC chairman accuses Republicans of “not taking over the chaos, they manufactured it. They took the economy and dragged it right into a ditch. They took certainty and replaced it with chaos.”

Martin predicts that Trump and the Republicans are heading for a ballot box disaster.

“Donald Trump has lost the economy, he’s losing his mind, and he’s going to lose the midterms,” ​​Martin charged.