Republicans suffered a heavy loss in Tuesday’s midterm elections, and a post-election analysis argues the cause was a single issue: affordability. The author writes that Democrats now control Congress, many governors’ offices and many state legislatures, and that voters who backed Donald Trump, JD Vance and a Republican Congress in 2024 on a promise of relief from high prices did not get it.

The analysis cites gas still above $4 a gallon, diesel above $6, restaurant prices that put dining out of reach and mortgage rates roughly double their lows from Trump’s first term. It says as many as three-quarters of voters reported their finances had worsened over two years, and that voters disliked the Iran war mostly because they saw it as a driver of those costs.

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From Just the News: 

In other words, Republicans failed to deliver. They promised courage, but acted tepidly. They offered excuses for inaction, and infighting over unity. They forgot what they promised and chased other priorities rather than deliver the No. 1 promise on their agenda. They had no coherent message for the clearly coherent demands of their constituents.

Republicans, likewise, cannot afford to revert to an older agenda or abandon the one that got them through the 2024 election. They must double down on what proved, and remains, popular: safer streets, a more secure border, common sense justice and no forever wars. They just need to affect more affordability … for food, homes, energy, education and health.

Politics must win upstream at the level of the culture. Conservatives have yielded this fight to the left since the early 2000s.

The author says exit polls show voters did not fully reject Republican policy. Those who voted, he writes, preferred capitalism to socialism and favored a closed border, lower crime, voter ID, protecting women’s sports and restraining taxes. He adds that Democrats won a protest vote rather than an endorsement, citing a 54% unfavorable rating for the party, only a few points better than the GOP. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, is quoted saying recovery could take just one election cycle if Democrats fumble.

The piece draws on interviews with a dozen unnamed strategists, who offered five recommendations. First, build a well-funded legal defense operation for Trump administration officials facing investigations, possibly through an executive order covering legal bills or a $50 million private fund. Second, reset the message for the final two years: use the veto, push a bipartisan deficit commission, expand Trump’s housing affordability plan, make all medical expenses tax-deductible, and settle the Camp Lejeune toxic water claims. Third, rebuild the coalition around Hispanic Catholics, small business owners, the working class, young voters, police and veterans, reaching them through streaming and podcasts rather than cable and talk radio. Fourth, rebuild state parties in places such as Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, replacing underperforming vendors and recruiting candidates. Fifth, compete in entertainment through affordable, ad-supported streaming, possibly with help from the Federal Communications Commission.

This is an opinion analysis. The strategists are not named, and the piece includes no response from Democrats, the Republican National Committee or the White House. The poll figures are the author’s.

Christians should hold elected leaders to the promises they made, pray for those who now hold new majorities to govern with restraint rather than revenge, and refuse to place final hope in any party or consultant class. Whoever holds power will be accountable to the God who sets up and removes leaders, and the church’s first task is to intercede. Let’s pray for President Trump and Republican leaders, that they would keep their word, pursue wise and honest policy, and serve the good of working families. Let’s pray for newly elected members of both parties, that they would govern with integrity and for the common good rather than payback. Let’s pray for Americans struggling with grocery, fuel and housing costs, that they would find relief and provision. And let’s pray for believers, that we would hope in the Lord and not in princes, and be faithful in the civic work in front of us.

How are you praying about this issue? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments below.

(Excerpt from Just the News. Photo Credit: switas from Getty Images Signature via Canva).