ANDREW BATES: How Democrats can crush Republicans on the economy and win the midterms

In 2020 and in the White House, I was the Biden spokesperson responsible for drawing strategic contrasts with Republicans and counterpunching when they attacked us – including as former President Biden won the most votes of any candidate in American history and then as the Biden-Harris administration achieved the most significant legislative record since Lyndon Johnson.

That is how I know that the last thing President Trump wants now is for Democrats to talk about his broken promise to lower costs right away. The telltale sign is that he has stopped talking about it himself. 

He knows that with an aggressive economic message that reveals the GOP’s establishment-bought true colors, Democrats can ignite a 2026 midterm backlash. 

Here is an inescapable fact: as soon as Republicans took control of Washington, their first act was to violate the core promise they made to voters: delivering pre-COVID, pre-inflation prices on ‘Day One.’

Trump repeated this pledge all over the country, even at the Republican National Convention: ‘I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately… Starting on day one, we will drive down prices.’

He guaranteed voters in my home state of North Carolina that Republicans would make prices for ‘everything’ ‘come down and come down fast.’

This was the commitment Americans cared about most – and Republican politicians knew they could never honor it, short of triggering a recession. That commitment is in shreds.

Like Savannah Guthrie recently said on Today, ‘Impacting the wallets of every American: the cost of eggs –skyrocketing. Gas prices [are] on the rise, as well.’

Now that they’re in charge, instead of cutting costs, Republicans are selling Americans’ government off to wealthy special interests – starting with tax giveaways for the rich that voters despise across party lines.

To finance their tax welfare for billionaires, Republicans are double-crossing the middle class. Last week, the administration was caught freezing critical funding for health care, police, firefighters, and pre-k, prompting outcries across the country. 

It won’t stop there.

Republicans are also proposing cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act that would increase the price of health coverage and close hospitals across the country – especially in struggling communities. Remember the 2018 midterms: healthcare is a powerful kitchen table issue.

What’s more, now that Republicans are imposing broad tariffs, they are actively increasing the prices and taxes working families pay. And they want the revenue to enable their tax handouts for the rich.  Raising taxes on the middle class in order to cut them for the wealthy is just about the least popular thing the government can do.

And should the GOP target the Inflation Reduction Act or the CHIPS and Science Act – which are surging manufacturing jobs back to America – they’ll be supporting an historic redistribution of jobs from working Americans to communist China.

Regardless of Trump’s distractions, Democrats should constantly remind voters: ‘We were promised 2019 prices out of the gate. That was the whole point. Where the hell are they? I just see Republicans gearing up to cut taxes for the wealthy, take health care from millions, and raise costs. We should be making life more affordable, investing in the middle class, and having billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes.’

While fighting hard for all our values, women’s health and other bedrock rights, we should put our economic opportunity message front and center. 

We should unmistakably position ourselves on the side of the American Dream. On the side of everyday people and of economic competition – against rich, consolidated special interests. Capitalism thrives the most when everyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a fair shot. 

Don’t reflexively oppose every last thing Trump does; make this economic contrast stand out.

Meet people where they are, including podcasts and news organizations across the political spectrum. Base your arguments in values, not wonkishness  — because 99.999% of the American public are proud not to be political junkies.

And deny Republicans’ their preferred foils when it comes to crime and the border, while denouncing brutal treatment of migrants and other un-American cruelty. When the next ‘abolish ICE’ or ‘defund the police’ surfaces on our side of the aisle–or when even a few of our allies further the misimpression that we don’t want to earn the votes of people from every background– party leaders should stamp it out fast, and plant our flag in the mainstream. Then pivot back to how Republicans are ripping Americans off to pay for their tax cuts for the rich.

For example: ‘Democrats support border security. Republicans inherited the fewest crossings in four years, and the number would have been lower if they hadn’t blocked the toughest bipartisan border bill in modern history out of politics, stopping us from hiring more Border Patrol and ICE personnel. Now that they’re in power, Republicans are hoping we won’t notice they’re raising prices while cutting taxes for the wealthy.’

And when we decry corruption, always mention the tangible costs. Don’t say that firing inspectors general isn’t ‘normal.’ Say, ‘Republicans just fired the nonpartisan watchdogs that stop the waste of taxpayer dollars.’

Shake off paralysis. Terminate the impulse to play into Trump’s hands. Instead of taking his bait, use his controversies as a segue to rail against the GOP’s broken promises: ‘If Republicans are hoping the American people will excuse raising the costs they told us they’d cut because they were busy letting January 6th convicts who beat cops off the hook, they have a rude awakening coming in 2026.’ 

Voters never have higher expectations than when a party — currently the GOP–has full control of Washington.  

Politics is a never-ending fight over definitions. In today’s online-dominated, conflict-obsessed environment – when traditional news is shaped by social media in more ways than even reporters and executives themselves understand – contrasts and authenticity are unprecedentedly important. So is outworking your opponents.

It’s time to take the initiative, and define ourselves and Republicans on our terms: on the economy.