Few things in American life unite voters from all backgrounds like Super Bowl Sunday. Yet long after the trophies are handed out and the commercials are forgotten, one question will matter more in the minds of most Americans: Can I afford to live here?
In 1992, Bill Clinton’s campaign was built around the blunt truth that voters may argue about values and personalities, but they vote based on whether their lives feel affordable. James Carville, Clinton’s lead strategist, captured that reality with a simple sign taped to the campaign wall: “The Economy, Stupid.”
That truth has not changed. What has changed is who is trying to claim it.
Across the country, a new faction of Democrat candidates is attempting to rebrand the party away from elite technocracy and toward working-class economic frustration. Their message is not subtle.
Life is too expensive, the system is rigged, and someone needs to fight it.
In New York City, Zohran Mamdani ran as a self-described Democrat Socialist and cultural outsider. He emphasized his work as a foreclosure prevention counselor and his 15-day hunger strike with taxi drivers that resulted in millions of dollars in debt relief. He used those experiences to frame himself as someone willing to put his body on the line for working people.
For a New York you can afford. pic.twitter.com/MYKLWnmCBR
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) October 29, 2025
His platform focused on free childcare, fare-free buses, city-owned grocery stores, and expanding the social safety net by taxing the wealthiest one percent. Every public message came back to affordability.
That strategy has spread west.
In California, Tom Steyer’s 2026 campaign for governor is centered almost entirely on the cost of living. He promises to cut electricity bills by 25 percent by breaking up utility monopolies, build one million homes in four years through streamlined, union-built construction, and reduce housing costs through tax credits and bulk purchasing of materials. The pitch is simple. California is unaffordable, and the system needs to be shaken up.
A million homes in four years. How the heck are we going to do that?
I held a town hall with YIMBY advocates in Los Angeles to talk about it.
Here’s my plan:
We’re going to treat a 21st century housing crisis with 21st century solutions.
That means union factories building… pic.twitter.com/u1oTqbgene
— Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) January 26, 2026
On Saturday, progressive Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman launched a surprise challenge to Mayor Karen Bass, arguing that soaring housing costs, declining basic services, and everyday quality-of-life issues have made the city increasingly unlivable for families. Her campaign echoes the same generational and economic framing seen in New York.
Radical LA councilmember Nithya Raman’s shocking record in spotlight as she enters mayor’s race pic.twitter.com/7veDcOanFk
— New York Post (@nypost) February 8, 2026
Add to this California Democrat Rishi Kumar’s proposal to exempt seniors from paying property taxes, called “The 60+ Property Tax Exemption Act of 2026”, and the pattern becomes clear.
We’re assembling a team of signature gatherers to support the ballot initiative to exempt anyone 60+ from property tax payments in California.
Sign-up herehttps://t.co/Szx9vf1qwP
Ballotpedia Link:https://t.co/yEiUVhQL1h
Secretary of State link
pic.twitter.com/NIwL4ypiGe— 🇺🇸 Rishi Kumar 🇺🇸 (@voteRishi) February 8, 2026
This is a deliberate effort by the progressive wing of the Democrat Party to shed its image as the party of elites, especially tech elites. Because what voters care about most is who makes life cheaper. And every winning campaign knows this.
RELATED: Democrats Now the Party of the Rich as Billionaires Line Up to Back Biden
Here is the danger for Republicans.
If Democrats are allowed to rewrite history and present themselves as the party of affordability, despite decades of policies that created the high cost-of-living, Republicans forfeit the most powerful issue in American politics.
Sky-high housing costs, crushing energy bills, expensive groceries, and punishing taxes did not appear overnight. They are the predictable result of decades of Democrat governance in cities and states like New York and California. Regulatory overreach, aggressive energy mandates, and persistent fraud and waste have made everyday life far more expensive for working families.
You cannot run the system for decades and then campaign as the outsider trying to dismantle it unless your opponents let you. Republicans must make a simple case and repeat it relentlessly.
The affordability crisis is the result of Democrat policies.
But accountability alone is not enough. Voters want solutions that actually lower costs, not abstract arguments about ideology. Republicans must offer practical, common-sense answers to the costs people feel every month.
That means reducing small business regulations that drove up prices downstream for consumers. It means repealing the tax increases that pushed families out of the very communities they helped build. It means relaxing mandates that inflated the price of food, gas, utilities, and basic necessities. And it means restoring local control over housing and land-use decisions that threaten the look and character of neighborhoods.
In 1992, voters rejected George H.W. Bush because the economy felt bad and Clinton convinced voters he understood that reality. The same rule applies today.
Elections are decided by whether people feel like they are getting ahead or falling behind. Republicans cannot allow Democrats to claim economic populism while escaping responsibility for the mess they created.
It was true in ‘92. It is true now.
It’s “the economy, stupid.”
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
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