With just over six months to go until the midterm elections, Democrats have made “affordability” their top talking point, hammering Republicans on persistent cost-of-living concerns and rising gas prices. Early polling suggests those attacks are having their intended effect – but the GOP can flip the script by pointing out that Democrats have consistently voted against affordability measures and have made life more unaffordable everywhere they are in power.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt laid the blueprint for what the GOP response to Democrats’ affordability talk should be during a media briefing last week on Tax Day. Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts that congressional Republicans passed and President Donald Trump signed into law last year, Americans saw one of the biggest refund seasons ever, with especially large returns for seniors, tipped workers, and those who earned overtime pay.
The statistics on how much this new tax law saved working families are astonishing. The average refund for tax year 2025 is more than $3,400, up more than 10 percent from 2024. More than 53 million filers have claimed one of the new exemptions in Trump’s tax law. More than 34 million families have claimed the enhanced Child Tax Credit.
But as Leavitt astutely pointed out, “What the American people must not forget is that every single Democrat in Congress voted against these tax cuts.”
“If the Democrats in Congress had gotten their way and blocked President Trump’s legislation, Americans would have faced the largest tax hike in history – nearly $4 trillion,” she continued. “The average taxpayer would have seen a 22 percent tax increase. Democrats in Congress have proven over and over again that they are affordability frauds who believe the government should keep more of the American people’s hard-earned money.”
The phrase “affordability frauds” should immediately become a go-to in the Republican lexicon between now and Election Day. If Democrats are allowed to win on that issue, they win the House and quite possibly the Senate. If Republicans can expose Democrats’ dishonesty and drive home for voters how the GOP is working – if imperfectly – to deliver on affordability, they have a fighting chance of retaining control of Congress.
The GOP’s affordability messaging should start with educating voters on the Working Families Tax Cuts, particularly as refunds start rolling in. Americans must understand as a matter of political philosophy that Republicans want workers to keep more of their money, while Democrats believe that money is best spent by the government rather than individuals and families. While they’d never admit it in such plain terms, Democrats believe that Washington can spend your money better than you can – and on this they are deeply out of touch with most Americans.
Republicans should also remind voters that it was Democrat policies which created the affordability crisis in the first place. On party-line votes, congressional Democrats passed and Joe Biden signed trillions of dollars in spending that sent inflation soaring above nine percent. From 2021 to 2024, cumulative inflation topped 20 percent.
Trump brought inflation back down under three percent almost immediately after taking office. Real wages have climbed more than $1,000 since January 2025, offsetting about a third of the $3,000 decline in real wages during Biden’s tenure.
It’s true that gas prices are currently too high as a result of hostilities in the Middle East. The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded is still above $4.00. But voters shouldn’t forget that with Biden in office, gas was more than $5.00 per gallon almost entirely because of Biden’s policies restricting domestic oil and gas production. A year ago under Trump, gas was close to $3.00 per gallon, and prices will likely fall quickly once the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened.
Additionally, Republicans should point to the situation in liberal locales as proof that Democrats are either liars or don’t have a clue what they’re talking about when it comes to affordability. According to the 2026 cost-of-living index, the top five most unaffordable jurisdictions in the country are Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and New York – all liberal strongholds. In fact, of the top 10 most unaffordable states, nine have a Democrat governor.
California and New York in particular are test cases that Republicans should point to. Democrats have virtually no obstacles to enacting whatever policies they want in these states. So why are residents fleeing in droves for Republican-led states that are far more affordable if Democrats supposedly have all the answers on affordability? Eight of the top ten most affordable states are Republican-led.
Democrats can talk all they want and make all the policy promises they want, but at the end of the day they have nothing to point to as proof of concept. Their policy record is abysmal. Any economist worth his salt is warning that their ideas won’t work. And they fundamentally believe that the government is a better steward of your money than you are.
The more Republicans can drive home these facts – the more they can expose Democrats as affordability frauds – the better chance they have of winning the midterms.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
Agree that we should continue to remind people of the value of the tax cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill but we need to realize that for most people, these taxes cut merely preserved the status quo.
We hammered the Dems on affordability/inflation in 2024 with great success.
Now, we are minding the store and it’s not our rhetoric that will win the day in 2026 but what people see when they walk into the grocery store or fill up their gas tank or open the bill from their insurance company.
Those interactions will tell people which party to vote for six months from now.
We have democrats who will vote the party line, no matter what direct evidence provides to the contrary. I will never forget the 2020 election. Amazingly, the dims picked a candidate who was already showing signs of both physical and mental lapse.
His first work he gleefully closed down the keystone pipeline, and no drilling on public land. If you have an ounce of perception, you realize that all over our country, ships and trucks, who depend on fossil fuels to deliver, instantly raise prices on supplies we all need, thus raising cost on every area of our lives. I never heard a peep out of any democrat leader. Wake up people, think before you vote. Republicans seem slow in their messaging, but use your common sense. Iran was poised to again threaten the US, President Trump took a courageous step to stop this madness. Gas prices vs a nuclear threat, there is no comparison.
The real problem to deal with are the low information voters. Those that believe the untruthful talking points of the democratic politicians and MSN pundits. I am one of those that benefited in the BBB passed by Congress and was in that category of those who received $3,400,00 or more back from the IRS in taxes this year and that is even with being able to sell a condo my wife had in Florida. We all have to remember that democrats are really about taxing and big government. They have no real plans or proactive in improving our country. As a conclusion “Don’t be Fooled”.
Yes i agree, the Republicans can’t afford to stay quite they do need to expose all the fraud and lies of the demoncrats. Because them demoncrats are coming full strength in an attempt to take control.
ALL Republicans need to unite behind President Trump now and stop their stupidity.
Those of us who read/listen to conservative news already know all this is true. How do we get through to those who watch MSM news? They won’t be convinced, their minds are closed, they won’t believe what’s in front of them. They’ll vote Democrat to spite themselves.
When democrats talk about “common sense”, or “affordability” they bust the B.S. meter every time because it immediately exceeds its measuring scale on the upper limit by astronomical figures. Their wholevprogram is based on lies, graft, and fraud.
Time to forcefully retire Chuck Schumer and John Thune. They are doing absolutely nothing to get the PEOPLES BUSINESS moving along. Howdy Doody could do a better job of conducting business. And why does the SARGANT AT ARMS get to pick and choose items in a piece of legislation to be voted on ?? That person was.not elected. DRAIN THE SWAMP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!! IT IS TIME TO KEEP EYES ON THE ACCOUNTS OF ALL LEGISLATORS!! NO MORE SECRET BACK ROOM DEALS!! KEEP THE PEOPLES BUSINESS JUST THAT FOR THE PEOPLE!!!GET RID OF GEORGE SOROS AND ALL HIS MONEY OPERATIONS!! AND THE JUDICAL ACTIVSTS! IF THESE JUDGES CAN ‘T CARRYON THE LAWS FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE CONSTITUTION THEN FIRE THEM! MAGA MAGA MAGA
The dem propaganda machine I.e. the legacy media have a stronghold on the sheep that vote for the dems blindly. They have been indoctrinated that everything Trump does is bad, democrats good. Those who do not think about the Biden regime. They will never accept that they prospered under Trump. Gas prices are high but it’s a temporary situation. Get your democrat leaders to support President Trump in the Iranian operation you would see the gas prices drop immediately. But the Iranian Mullahs are playing the dem card hoping President Trump will acquiesce. The dems are bound and determined to destroy America. Don’t forget whose support they have to do that. The millionaire donors with Soros directing and the millionaire dem senators that have become rich from these millionaires who all received money to vote their way. Remember Pocahontas and grandpa Bernie. Representatives AOC, Omar, Tlaib, Crockett. And don’t forget the deep state old timers like Schiff and Pelosi. It’s all about money. Under Biden they broke the budget and Biden printed more money which caused inflation. Trump brought jobs and the economy back up by lowering inflation, drilling for oil in the US. And the dems have just obstructed him at every turn by taking him to court on every piece of legislation he proposed passed the congress and still they made a federal case out of it. Not to bring Trump down but the country. Trump’s name was on the documents. And now they are screaming about affordability. We couldn’t afford nothing under Biden. Traveling was too expensive, buying a new car. Forget it. The shut down of the Plandemuc destroyed the country and the dems continue it till today to make America fall. By hook or by crook they want to globalize America. No more sovereignty. Lawlessness and people living together for the climate change sake, lower the carbon footprint.That way the millionaires like Obama and Pelosi and Kameltoe can buy estates at the oceans edge. They are not talking about your affordability but theirs.
Or, Thune could just get up off his dead rino rear end and end the filibuster! Even though he’s probably already waited too long, it would at least give Republicans a chance in the midterms!
We need to remember where most of this started!
Joe Biden and the opening of the border. This created mass illegal immigration, having to give them medical and healthcare, housing, SNAP benefits, free legal aid; killings of Americans, shall I go on.
This is all on the Democrats! Plus more than we can imagine.
The Democrats are constantly “give me” while taking away from the innocent tax payer. They are walking zombies with only “do for me” on their minds!
This game plan is SO obvious BUT I don’t hear Republican Party leaders espousing it at all times across all medias. Why is that?
Again the damn RNC DC Estd Blocks all & Cong doesnt care for the Voters
Good luck on that! I don’t think the GOP really wants to win. They would rather take the back seat, collect the salary and the great retirement and complain about the Democrats than to being charged and have to put up with all the flack. That may sound harsh but the Republicans won’t even point out the fact that The Democrats can’t win if they don’t cheat! They’re afraid of making them mad and being canceled. They’re afraid of the corrupt judicial system and the media. They need to be more like Donald Trump. The media did not create Donald Trump so therefore they cannot destroy him
As a famous American General once said , Politicians are the lowest form of life on Earth , Democratic Politicians are even lower than that .
Get it done, GOP!
But good luck with that…..
TAX, TAX, TAX. Dems never change.
Print those signs and banners “Democrats = Affordability Frauds”
To win the midterms, GOP candidates and their campaign opertives must enphasize the ever-lasting,ongoing unresolved civil issues affecting every citizen in every state “managed” by those who who retained p[ower for so long but avoid making every contest a shouting match between participants. Connect the unresolved issues with the lame solutions and tremendous amounts of money spent not getting solutions emplaced. The issues are obvious to everyone paying a minimal amount of attention. Let’s hear how the midterm winners PLAN to resolve the failures to perform by the present group of senators and representatives. Clean house….again…as in 2010.
It’s past time that Republicans should be taking the offensive on this top as well as many others to win in November. I hope Republicans will be on the offensive, not just responding to Democrat attacks. There is plenty of Democrat red meat and I hope/pray that Republican decision-makers can hear the rest of us screaming at them to fight hard and dirty as the Dems always do.
All political Democrats do is lie and attack their opponents. And since the MSM have become their microphones and advocates, the people who don’t diligently search out the truth are swayed to believe and vote for them.
So, all of these plans to win in November need to be brought to the attention of the people who are in charge of running the campaigns for nominees. If the GOP is to win this year in ALL elections, the far left people who only see fake media need to be aware of all the good Trump has done for them. The head of the Senator Joe Gruters I had to search for his name because I had no idea who held that post. He is a senator from FL and he is not out there rooting for our side as far as I can see. He and his co-chair K.C. Crosbie need to be working on this election!!
Great read and hopefully the GOP develops and spreads the right message.
The GOP has exposed the no good Democratic Party and their allies as thrives, liars, murders and they continue to do the same things over and over! So what must we do to stop the spread and madness of the Democratic Party destroying our country!
Unfortunately there’s plenty of dumocrats so brainwashed by the likes of Jeffries, Schumer, the Bern, AOC, all the fear mongers & can’t see the forest for the trees. Not to mention the main sream media & ill-informed late night talk show idiots. I want to live in a country with peace & harmony, not constant chaos, fear of getting attacked, etc. The Republicans should mail fliers to dumocrats about their failing so called party. What Trump has done compared to sleepy Joe. Also the fraud investigations going on, immigrants on Medicaid & Medicare, also getting all kinds of perks who shouldn’t be getting. They ARE NOT legal citizens. They’re robbing us blind. Something has to wake these democrats up. I switched from voting for Obama first term to Republican thereafter. I didn’t look back. Don’t be loyal to a party that continually fails you, quit listening to your parties lies, Democrats. Look at what mamdani has been doing to NYC & spanberger in VA. They run as moderates, promise the moon & do a 180° turn- about the 1st day in office. Democrats, don’t go along to get along; these Demons will bite you in the …!!
When are people going to wake up of course we want to know about fraud it is our money the spend. The government needs to be opened immediately
AMAC needs to train their AI reader to recognize decimal points. It is $5.00 gas not $500.
I am reluctant to donate to the RNC as too many RINOs are stopping the SAVE act and seem to love to lose. All they care about is a worry that the media won’t like them if they grow a pair. The Dungocraps new symbol is the cockroach but the GOP seems to embrace the chicken.
Is the RNC doing ANYTHING to push our candidates and DJT’s great programs? I only have streaming TV and have seen ZERO commercials. As someone pointed out, why didn’t the RNC run lots of ads showing the phoniness of the VA proposal? We only “lost” by 2% and the way the proposal was phrased was back assward!
Here is the question that republicans need to ask over and over and over in campaign commercials :
“if democrats are concerned about affordability how come their poster state california sports the highest cost of living in the continental US ? ”
along with :
“and if they have policies to lower cost of living , if they know how to bring down rent , price of gas and grocery prices why havent they implemented them in California ? “
Voters are not going to care what gas prices were under Biden. They are going to care what gas prices are now, and what it is doing to the cost of everything else! Low information democrat voters don’t care, or even know about, what would have been, if… And the GOP better get off of their butts and start doing what ever it takes to win the midterms! The dems aren’t going to talk about higher tax refunds. They are going to talk about what things cost, because people vote with their wallets. So the GOP needs to get creative on how to combat this. And while we are at it, Rinos like Collins and Murkowski have to go. And we can be thankful that McConnel will be gone next year. But we have to win the midterms, no matter what…. there simply is no other choice. The only sensible democrat is Fetterman. All of the others are socialist commies, along with the GOP Rinos. Is that who we want running the country? And every day the Iran ‘conflict’ is not settled is one day closer to the midterms. Don’t think for a minute that the dems don’t like these high gas prices.
This strategy will go no where. The “tax cuts” just made the previous cuts “permanent”(which means temporarily longer). So most people did not notice a change in their taxes. The no tax on tips and overtime picked winners and losers. For me, I’m angry that these people are not paying taxes on all of their income. I have tipping fatigue and I’m tired of everyone expecting a tip. Many places start the tip at 20% which is too much. As cost of the food and drink goes up so does the value of a tip. I for one am reducing the tip and taking my own tax cut. I tip based on service I receive not their whining and crying. As for the senior tax cut, many seniors get nothing because they don’t pay taxes anyway. The $6,000, if you get it or part of it is, only reduces your taxes a little bit. Why don’t seniors get to deduct $25,000 from their income instead of only $6,000? Why does the phase out start at $75,000/150,000 instead of $150,000/$300,000? In other words no tax on tips is so much better than what seniors get if anything. Workers who worked and contributed to Social Security for 35 or more years should not be taxed on their Social Security. The tariffs and now gas prices will bury the GOP no matter how hard they try and no matter what they say. Until the focus is on overall affordability for all working citizens both parties, all current politicians should be voted out. Vote for the unknown and hound them from day one what we citizens expect them to do.
The way it looks now in the Middle East unless President Trump does not end this war with Iran in the next couple of weeks he will lose the mid-terms .
Affordability leftist style , who those voting for them think pays for it, and what exactly is it they imagine will fall into their lap.
Then why are you here? Go see what CNN has to offer.
The war Netanyahu ordered Trump to join against Iran and it’s impact on affordability of everything will dominate the election and the affordability discussions. I voted Trump on policy over Open Borders, pro-criminal anarchy Democrats. But always considered him a loathsome liar.
Instead of cleaning up his act from a 1st term where Trump was all about rage, hate, threats he doubled down in his 2nd term. Same with his constant childish or malignant narcissist demand for flattery and attention. Worse the 2nd time.
. A majority sees him as an Israel, not America Firster. And threatening and insulting everyone on the planet, nations, even Americans in any Party. Except of course Jews and Israel are spared his venom. He is compromised somehow.
Direct taxation takes second place to regulations to pay bureaucrat and professional make work salaries in the name of equity and environmental valhalla. These costs are often obscure and even deliberately hidden by liberal government.
This GOP is just as evil and corrupt as the DNC