Trump faces ‘greatest test’ in delivering on affordability before 2026 midterms

WASHINGTON — President Trump spent Wednesday touting his economic agenda — a day after Republicans suffered a blistering defeat in several key races across the nation, as the GOP looks to refocus on affordability issues to win back voters.

“Day by day, we’re making America affordable again. It’s going to be affordable again at a really record pace,” Trump said at a business forum in Miami. 

But at a breakfast with Republican senators earlier in the day, he was more reflective of the blue sweep, including by New York City Mayor-elect and socialist Zohran Mamdani as well as Democrats Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger winning the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races.

“If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” Trump told the crowd. “Last night, it was not expected to be a victory, it was a very Democrat areas. I don’t think it was good for Republicans. I don’t think it was good for anybody. We had an interesting evening and learned a lot.”

Party insiders say Tuesday’s results were a wake-up call for the GOP to recalibrate ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and win back voters who are worried about grocery costs, energy bills, and rising housing costs.

“Republicans have to recognize that they got beat yesterday and the president’s comment that he wasn’t on the ballot does not help because he’s not going to be on the ballot in 2026,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told The Post.

“I suggest trying to develop a Republican legislative scorecard and I specifically suggest that they think of this as the 21st Century Affordability Act,” said Gingrich (R-Ga.).

“This is the greatest test of Trump, MAGA and Republicanism: Can they in fact offer a better life for the average American?”

The 2025 exit polls in the major contests found voters broke for Democratic candidates based on economic concerns, which is a turnaround from a year ago, when Republicans had the public’s confidence on the economy. 

Trump won back the White House in 2024 on an economic message of “slashing energy and electricity prices by half within 12 months, at a maximum 18 months,” “cutting the cost of a new home in half,” imposing “a temporary cap on credit card interest rates,” and “getting gasoline below $2 a gallon [and] bring[ing] down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, airfares, and housing.”

Nearly 10 months into his second term, residential electricity costs are up 5.8% from last year, according to the latest monthly data from August, median home prices notched a new record high in the third quarter of 2025, a cap has not been imposed on credit card interest, gasoline averages $3.08 versus $3.10 on the same date last year, food-at-home costs are up 2.7% and airfare has gone up 3.2% over 12 months.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) crowed about the success of Democratic messaging, gloating Wednesday that voters gave a “decisive repudiation of Donald Trump” because of the fact that “Donald Trump and Republicans promised that they would lower costs on day one. Costs aren’t going down. They are going up.”

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) told The Post that “this is a warning sign” ahead of the midterms, which will dictate whether Trump’s final two years in office are consumed by Democrat-led investigations and obstruction of his legislative agenda.

“One thing Republicans better be thinking about right now is, what are we not doing politically?” Lott said. “You’ve got to show an interest and suggest that certain things should be done. And I don’t see that occurring right now.”

Lott urged Republicans to immediately broker a deal with Senate Democrats to end the 36-day partial government shutdown, which has left more than 2 million federal civilian workers without pay.

Gingrich suggested doing so with reforms adding work requirements, anti-fraud measures and restrictions on migrants getting those benefits.

The election results were a heavy blow, though not entirely unexpected, as the GOP faced its biggest test on the party’s messaging ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump said the record-breaking government shutdown and his name not being on the ballot hurt Republicans. 

“We had an interesting evening, and we learned a lot, and we’re going to talk about that,” Trump told senators.

Forty-nine percent of Virginia voters said the economy was their top issue, according to exit polls conducted by SSRS on Nov. 5, with nearly two-thirds of those voters choosing the Democrat.

In New Jersey, 32% said the same, with an even greater share of those respondents voting blue. Another 36% took aim at the Garden State’s tax-heavy policies.

In both states, electricity prices are soaring as a result of increased demand for power by artificial intelligence.

Most Big Apple voters (56%) also described the cost of living as the most important issue facing the city, according to the exit surveys.

‘Our asses handed to us’

“We got our asses handed to us in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City. Democrats swept all three,” Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said in a blunt analysis of the results.

“Our side needs to focus on affordability: Make the American dream affordable, bring down costs — electric costs, grocery costs, health care costs and housing costs, and lay out how we’re going to do it,” Ramaswamy offered as part of a two-part solution in tandem with eliminating “identity politics.”

Household debt from credit cards, student loans, car loans and mortgages are at a record high, according to new statistics out Wednesday from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, though some categories declined slightly in the first half of 2025.

The president, clearly aware of the vulnerability, said in the economics-focused speech in Miami Wednesday afternoon that he’s committed to “making America affordable again” — arguing that he’s already making progress despite the Democratic wins.

Trump pointed that inflation — currently at an annual rate of 3% — has eased up since its 9.1% peak during the Biden administration and that inflation-adjusted take-home pay has increased on his watch.

“We’re going to have a bigger, better, stronger economy than the first four years,” Trump said, before touting what his administration has championed as a historic real-wage increase for blue-collar workers.

“Since I took office,” he added, “wages for the typical factory worker are up $1,300, construction workers’ pay is up $2,200, and miners are up nearly $5,000 this year alone.”

“Gasoline prices have plummeted to the lowest in two decades, and we’re going to soon see $2 gasoline,” Trump went on. “Grocery prices are way down and Walmart just announced that the cost of their standard Thanksgiving meal.. is 25% lower than one year ago. Isn’t that great?”

“The cost of the typical new mortgage is down by nearly $3,000 a year. … Day by day, we’re making America affordable again. It’s going to be affordable again at a really record pace.”

Blue-collar workers have seen real wage growth of at least 1.7% since Trump returned to the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously told Post columnist Miranda Devine on “Pod Force One” — the highest level of any administration since former President Richard Nixon.

‘Decisive moment in the future of Trumpism’

Gingrich, who engineered the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 by drafting and aggressively promoting his “Contract with America,” said that he’s confident conservatives can reverse the tide.

“This is a very decisive moment in the future of Trumpism and MAGA and what kind of Republican Party we’re going to be,” Gingrich said.

“It requires learning some lessons from yesterday and also being much more focused and disciplined about what we’re going to try to achieve and how we’re going to explain it.”

Mamdani, Sherrill and Spanberger had “almost identical language about affordability” that resonated with voters, he noted, touching on the cost of housing, healthcare and electricity.

“In the short term, focusing on affordability and proving to the American people you’re listening to them are enormous steps. And then developing message discipline, which Republicans historically have never done,” the former House speaker contended.

One option for legislation would be Republicans mandating healthcare cost transparency to drive down costs — in an answer to the demands of Democrats to extend pandemic-era insurance subsidies, which has triggered the federal funding impasse.

“Healthcare is now the single largest cost — it’s 18% of the American economy,” Gingrich said, pointing to research that transparency could reduce the burden by 4 percentage points by encouraging comparison-shopping and competition.

Lott, who led Senate Republicans in retaining their 55-seat majority in the 1998 midterm election, said he believes the GOP is positioned to hold the Senate next year but is at particular risk of losing the House, including because of California’s ballot measure passed Tuesday allowing for partisan redistricting.

“The first thing to do is acknowledge you have an issue or a problem and assure the people that you’re going to meet with whomever you need to, the experts… and see if there’s anything Congress can do,” Lott said.

‘First you win the debate’

Gingrich noted that it’s possible that Americans will begin feeling positive economic momentum next summer as a result of Trump’s aggressive pursuit of foreign investment and his use of tariffs and expensing incentives for manufactures — negating the liability.

“As late as ’83 [Walter] Mondale was beating [then-President Ronald] Reagan in most polls,” he said, “There was an enormous recovery in the economy in the sense that Reagan was getting the job done. So if that happens here, we’ll be in another world.”

In the meantime, Republicans should avoid talking about “everything else” except the economy. Gingrich added — pointing to Mamdani’s refusal in a recent Fox News interview to discuss Israel-related topics as an example for Republicans.

“He looked at them and said, ‘I’m focused on affordability and the housing crisis.’ That’s good message discipline,” the former House speaker raved.