Democrats win 2025 elections focusing on economy and affordability issues

As the 2025 election fades into the rearview mirror, the campaign spotlight turns 100% toward next year’s midterm elections, when Republicans will defend their fragile House majority and control of the Senate.

And as this month’s election has shown, the economy will once again be at the forefront of voters’ concerns.

How the two parties handle the issue of “affordability” will likely impact Republicans’ ability to regain their footing with female voters, as well as Black and Latino voters, who turned to the Republican Party in 2024 but switched back to Democrats in this fall’s off-year elections.

A year after deep concerns over inflation helped Republicans win back the White House and Senate and successfully protect their House majority, Democrats say their convincing double-digit congressional election victories The only two elections of 2025 for the governor came down to affordability, the issue they repeatedly highlighted on the campaign trail this year.

DEMOCRATS SEE MANDATE AFTER 2025 VICTORY — REPUBLICANS SAY IT’S A MIRAGE

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for New Jersey, at an election night event in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Tuesday, November 4, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Meghan Meehan-Draper said Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger from Virginiathe two Democratic gubernatorial candidates who outperformed public opinion polls as they cruised to election night victories in blue-leaning states, “stayed focused on the economy” and “talked about it all day, every day.”

It was also this issue that gave Zohran Mandani, a former socialist, his first victory in New York’s Democratic Party mayoral primary and another victory in the mayoral election of the nation’s most populous city.

The numbers appear to support Democrats.

According to the Fox News poll of voters conducted Oct. 22 through Election Day, the economy was by far the top issue for Virginia voters — with nearly half ranking it as the most important. These voters defected significantly in favor of Spanberger.

And in New JerseyThe economy is the second most pressing problem, after taxes, according to the poll. And Sherrill won those voters by a 30-point margin.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS

Highlighting big Democratic victories in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as left-leaning Pennsylvania, New York City and California, and battleground Georgia, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said his party’s candidates are “meeting voters at the kitchen table… From New Jersey to Virginia and New York to Georgia and beyond, Democrats have run relentless campaigns focused on costs and affordability.”

And in pointing to those victories, as well as the narrow wins in a slew of other states, Martin touted “this was an unequivocal Blue Sweep.”

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin is interviewed by Fox News Digital, July 23, 2025, at the DNC headquarters in Washington, DC. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Republicans believe Democrats are overestimating their victories in the 2025 elections.

“What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw it coming. And no one should read too much into last night’s election results,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said the day after the election.

Vice President JD Vance, in a social media post last week, said: “I think it’s silly to overreact to a few elections in blue states. »

VANCE PROVIDES POST-ELECTION REALITY CHECK, SAYS GOP MUST MAKE LIFE AFFORDABLE WITHOUT BEING WALLOPED IN 2026

But Vance acknowledged that when it comes to the economy and specifically inflation, “we’re going to continue to work to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that’s the measure by which we will ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond.”

During an appearance Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity,” the vice president, highlighting former President Joe Biden’s tenure in the White House, charged that “we inherited a disaster. We are very aware that there is a lot of work to do, but I think we have made great progress.”

President Donald Trump, in his first post-election interview of 2025, told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday that, on inflation, “we’ve done so much… Energy is down… We’re going to have $2 gasoline.”

And the president argued in his “Special Report” interview that it’s more of a messaging problem for the GOP.

“As Republicans, you have to talk about this,” Trump said.

The president has maintained his affordability storyline in repeated appearances since last week’s election, including during an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”

And on Friday, the president said on social media: “Affordability is a lie when used by Democrats. It’s a total scam.”

But the focus on affordability appeared to stunt the Republican Party’s major gains last year with key elements of the Democratic Party base.

According to the Fox News Voter Poll, Sherrill won the female vote in New Jersey by a margin of 62 to 37 percent, up from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 56 to 42 percent margin last year.

The story is similar in Virginia, where Spanberger won 65 to 35 percent of female voters, compared to 57 to 42 percent for the then-vice president in 2024.

One of the biggest stories of the 2024 election has been the gains Trump and the Republicans made among Black and Latino voters.

In New Jersey, Sherrill outperformed Harris’ 2024 performance by 12 percentage points among Latino voters and 15 points among Black voters.

Spanberger also made gains over Harris, with an 8-point increase in support among Latino voters and a 7-point increase among black voters.

Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger celebrates as she takes the stage during her campaign night rally at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on November 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“From top to bottom of the ballot, Black and Latino voters overwhelmingly came out in favor of Democrats. Our candidates remained focused on the issue that matters most to voters, affordability,” Marcus W. Robinson, senior spokesperson for the DNC, told Fox News Digital.

Martin believes the 2025 elections are a preview of next year’s midterm elections.

“In 2026, we will do it again. We will wage a coordinated national campaign to win the election and control the out-of-control Trump administration and its Republican endorsements,” he argued.

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But the rival Republican National Committee (RNC) is eyeing a different political outcome in 2026.

“Republicans enter next year more united than ever behind President Trump. The party is fully aligned with his America First agenda and the results he delivers for the American people. President Trump’s policies are popular, he’s driving turnout, and standing with him is the strongest path to victory,” RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels told Fox News Digital.