Exactly three weeks out from the midterm elections, Vice President J.D. Vance is optimistic that Republicans will maintain control of Congress, despite a tumultuous past two years.
“I think there are a number of races, for example in Minnesota, in traditionally blue areas where we think we have a real chance,” Vance told reporters Tuesday, adding that they’re “not giving up anywhere, we’re just trying to win the races where we can and focus where we can.”
Vance noted that though it is “historically unusual” for the political party in control to perform well in midterm elections, “I feel good about where we are.”
“So we know that we’re swimming against some serious historical trends here, but I think we have as good a chance as I’ve ever seen to really defy those historical trends,” he said.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have faced record-high inflation and gas prices, an increasingly unaffordable housing market, soaring health insurance premiums, and persistently high interest rates.
Many of the second Trump administration’s actions, such as imposing harsh tariffs and attacking Iran, have contributed to or exacerbated what many call an affordability crisis, a situation that Democrats have hammered Republicans on in election campaigns.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other Republicans have attempted to do damage control as polls show their chances of maintaining power appear shaky.
For the most part, Republicans have stuck to two strategies: touting the across-the-board tax cuts in their “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and condemning the growing number of self-identified Democratic Socialist candidates appearing on the 2026 ballot.
“In my home state of Louisiana, almost 68% of workers can benefit from No Tax on Overtime, and 700,000 senior citizens can benefit from No Tax on Social Security,” Johnson, referencing policies in the OBBBA, posted on social media Tuesday. “Republicans delivered this and so much more in our Working Families Tax Cuts. But EVERY single Democrat in Congress voted AGAINST this.”
Johnson and others have repeatedly cast the midterms as a battle of “common sense versus crazy.” They have pointed to progressive and Democratic Socialist candidates like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania as signs the Democratic Party is shifting to extremism.
The majority of U.S. registered voters appear wary of Democratic Socialist candidates running for office, with The Center Square’s newest Voters’ Voice Poll showing that 55% of American voters are concerned about Democratic Socialist candidates running for and winning elected office in the U.S.
The poll was conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, surveying 2,527 registered voters from Oct. 5-7 via an opt-in online panel and text-to-web cell phone messages. The sample included 1,136 Republicans, 1,171 Democrats, and 220 True Independents, who did not lean toward either major party when asked. The poll’s margin of error was +/- 1.95%.
