Republicans should treat the 2025 elections not as a defeat, but as a warning. The message from voters is unmistakable: they are furious about the cost of living, and they’re not hearing solutions from us.
Heading into the election, 44% of Americans said the cost of living is their top issue — not democracy, not the border, not even crime. Affordability dominates everything. And unless Republicans respond with credible economic answers, we are setting ourselves up for a backlash in 2026. It’s not that voters have suddenly become Democrats. It’s that they no longer believe Republicans are fighting for their wallets.
Voters told pollsters that 40% are worse off than last year — among independents, it’s nearly half. These are the voters Republicans must win back. They’re not ideological; they’re practical. They don’t care who wins the next social media spat. They care that groceries and rent keep going up.
CONSUMER SENTIMENT PLUNGES TO LOWEST IN THREE YEARS AS SHUTDOWN HITS RECORD LENGTH
Zohran Mamdani‘s victory in the New York City mayoral election proves the point. He didn’t win because of his radical record — he won in spite of it. The centerpiece of his campaign was making New York more affordable to live in. Voters weren’t voting for his worldview. They were voting for the only candidate speaking to the economic concerns facing voters.
Republicans ceded the most important terrain in politics: the kitchen table. The GOP cannot afford to keep losing on economic messaging in major cities and suburbs where families are stretching every dollar and watching politicians argue about everything but prices.
If Republicans want to win, they must present a vision that directly addresses the real-world economic pain people feel. Inflation remains stubbornly high, and voters know Washington spending is part of the problem. We can’t keep pretending the Federal Reserve alone can fix this. Congress must send a signal — a credible one — that the spending binge is over. And we must make clear that economic leadership isn’t about slogans. It’s about discipline and restraint.
That means cutting wasteful programs, ending the addiction to deficits, and committing to the kind of fiscal discipline that will let the Fed lower rates with confidence. When mortgages and rent are this high, voters don’t want rhetoric — they want relief.
At the local level, Republicans have to show how free-market ideas can address affordability. On housing, avoid promising more subsidies. They only drive costs higher and lead to decrepit properties. Instead, Republicans should increase the supply of affordable housing by making it easier to build by eliminating zoning chokeholds, reducing bureaucratic red tape, and streamlining permitting times.
On healthcare, Republicans must take on the big drug companies and pharmacy benefit managers with market-driven transparency and competition, not new bureaucracies. Expanding Obamacare is exactly what Democrats want. It would only bolster their argument that the government should exert more control over our lives. Local Republican candidates can lead here by showing that innovation and deregulation, not subsidies, deliver results faster and cheaper.
The election must be a choice between two futures — one that leads to affordable prosperity, and one that drags America back into the inflationary chaos of Democratic control. Exit polls indicated that Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey won “economic voters” by wide margins. That cannot happen again. Republicans don’t need to run from the Trump coalition. They need to rebuild it around economic competence and fiscal realism that works for working families.
Voters still remember the weakness and overreach of the Biden years. Republicans must run on a message of not letting the Democrats back in the door. We must keep the Left out of power by reminding its constituents what it felt like: collapsing purchasing power, runaway prices, and a government that punished work and success.
The contrast must be clear: fiscal sanity and free markets versus spending sprees and regulation.
Recent polling shows Democrats are far more motivated to vote in next year’s midterm elections: 67% of their voters are “extremely motivated” compared to only 46% of Republicans. That enthusiasm gap could cost us dearly. We’ve been here before. In 2018, despite ushering in an economy that had a 68% approval rating, Republicans in the House lost 40 seats after failing to match the enthusiasm levels of Democrats. If Republicans ignore that lesson and cannot motivate the electorate with their economic proposals, we risk a similar outcome.
GASLIGHTING AMERICANS ON INFLATION IS A BAD IDEA
And that purpose should be centered on a positive, forward-looking vision — one where smaller government, lower spending, and greater prosperity go hand in hand. In other words, make life affordable again.
Our message should be clear and relentless. Stop inflation by stopping the spending. Cut costs by freeing markets, not expanding government. Remind voters who created this mess — and who can fix it.
Because in 2026, Bill Clinton’s admonition still applies: it’s the economy, stupid!
David McIntosh is the President of Club For Growth
