Economic Pain and an Unpopular Trump Put G.O.P. on its Heels With Three Weeks to Go
Inflation has hurt Americans at many levels: Farmers, truckers, consumers. It has also expanded the electoral map into what was safely Republican country just a few months ago.
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Inflation has hurt Americans at many levels: Farmers, truckers, consumers. It has also expanded the electoral map into what was safely Republican country just a few months ago.
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Patricia Mazzei and Shane Goldmacher
Patricia Mazzei and Shane Goldmacher cover national politics. She reported from Miami. He reported from Pennsylvania and New York.
Oct. 10, 2026
Three weeks from Election Day, deep frustration over an economy that feels unworkable for Americans at most every level, from farmers to truckers to consumers, has expanded the map of competitive electoral contests into areas that seemed safely Republican just a couple of months ago.
Sustained high prices are putting at risk some of the constituencies, states and congressional districts that President Trump and Republicans won decisively in 2024. The widespread discontent has prompted candidates, parties and major G.O.P. fund-raising groups to shift their messages and ad spending in crucial races to try to move voters in the final days of the midterm campaign.
With control of the House, Senate and the vast majority of the country’s governor’s offices and legislatures at stake, Republicans are examining their own deteriorating internal polling, along with their experiences with voters, and say they are reassessing their odds and triaging the map.
On Friday, for example, the leading Senate Republican super PAC began to plunge another $30 million into advertising in Texas to try to save the state’s Senate seat for Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general.
Several races that are likely to determine the overall outcome on Election Day — the Maine and Michigan Senate elections, for example — remain tight. Control of the chamber could easily boil down to one or two of these razor-thin contests.
Still, Republican baggage is piling up, regionally and nationally. Mr. Trump is facing backlash to mass deportations in South Texas and South Florida. His party is bracing for anger at expanding data centers in states including Ohio and Michigan. In big farming states, record diesel prices have arrived just in time for harvest season. In colder northern states, spiking heating oil costs loom for families.
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Originally published by nytimes.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of Glamour Canada.
