President Donald Trump may have handed Democrats the issue they need to win Congress.
Affordability.
It is a word Trump increasingly seems unwilling to hear. He has called it a Democratic “hoax,” mocked the way his opponents use it and, more recently, suggested the media suddenly discovered the word after he returned to office.
Democrats should do exactly the opposite.
How great does America feel when you can no longer afford to live in it?
They should embrace it.
Not as another slogan to throw at Trump, but as a promise to voters: We see what it costs to live your life. We understand why it matters. And we intend to do something about it.
Because affordability is not a Washington talking point. It is the grocery bill, the electricity bill, the prescription waiting at the pharmacy, the insurance premium, the rent or mortgage payment, and the tank of gas needed to get to work.
It is everyday life.
And for millions of Americans, the political question behind all of it is brutally simple:
Can I afford my life?
That question could become one of the most powerful Democratic messages of the midterms.
Trump Already Proved It Works
Two years ago, Trump understood its power himself. During the 2024 campaign, he stood beside tables piled with groceries and attacked Democrats over rising prices. He promised Americans he would bring those costs down.
Today, the political landscape looks very different.
Food prices remain high. Gasoline prices are squeezing household budgets. And the cost of living has become the top issue for American voters.
Trump's response has too often been to argue with the premise.
That is an extraordinary political opening.
Democrats should not spend the next few months trying to convince Americans that Trump is dangerous, chaotic, or unfit for office. Those arguments have been made countless times, and most Americans have long since formed an opinion about Donald Trump.
Instead, Democrats should talk about something voters encounter every single day.
The price of living in America.
Make Affordability Personal
If instability surrounding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz pushes energy prices higher, explain what that means when someone fills the tank on the way to work—and how higher fuel and transportation costs eventually find their way into the price of food and other necessities.
If tariffs make imported goods more expensive, do not begin with a lecture on international trade. Show voters where those costs appear in their household budgets.
If healthcare, housing, electricity, and insurance consume more of a family's income, talk about that.
Then ask the question Trump may least want this election to be about: How great does America feel when you can no longer afford to live in it?
That is not an argument about ideology.
It is an argument about everyday life.
Trump has always understood the political power of making things personal. His language is simple, his enemies identifiable, and his promises easy to repeat.
Democrats too often answer with policy papers.
They should learn something from him.
Make affordability personal.
Talk about the supermarket checkout rather than an inflation chart. Talk about filling the car rather than energy markets. Talk about the prescription someone postpones because there is not enough money left in the account.
And above all, listen.
Own the Solution, Not Just the Problem
Because Democrats cannot simply replace Trump is dangerous with Trump is expensive. If they want to own affordability as an issue, they must also own the responsibility for offering solutions.
They need to explain what they would do to reduce pressure on household costs, make healthcare and medicine more affordable, address housing and energy costs, and protect consumers from policies that leave them paying more.
Not 20-point plans buried on campaign websites.
A few priorities people can remember. Promises they can repeat. Policies whose effects they can imagine in their own lives.
This may be Trump's greatest political gift to Democrats.
He has taken an issue that helped return him to the White House and increasingly allowed himself to sound dismissive of the very anxiety that made it powerful.
Democrats should not make the same mistake.
They should make affordability their own.
Not because a pollster tells them to use the word.
Because when a voter sits down at the end of the month with a grocery receipt, an electricity bill, a prescription, and a bank account that does not stretch as far as it used to, that voter does not need Washington to explain what affordability means.
They already know.
For years, Trump's opponents have explained Donald Trump.
Perhaps they have explained him enough.
Now they should explain what they would do for the people sitting around the kitchen table.
Because that may be exactly where the next election is won.
