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Affordability. It is the buzzword in politics these days.
And Democrats, amazingly, somehow own this issue if last week’s elections are any indication. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won comfortably in New York despite being a pro-Jihadi antisemite with almost no real work experience while embracing socialism in the financial capital of the world. His message of affordability, slickly produced on social media with a smiling Mamdani promising lots of free stuff like the next coming of Oprah Winfrey, helped him win an election despite having little name recognition until just a few months ago.
Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia both won their gubernatorial races by focusing on lowering housing and energy costs. Exit polls, as a result, showed all three candidates trouncing their opponents on the affordability issue.
“It’s the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and yet, 1 in 4 New Yorkers are living in poverty, and the rest are seemingly trapped in a state of anxiety,” Mamdani told Meet the Press last month. “We’ve seen that this is a city that needs to be affordable for the people who build it every day. Our focus was on exactly that, and by keeping that focus on an economic agenda, we showed New Yorkers that this could be more than just a museum of what [it] once was.”
The incredible part about this pitch is that a majority of voters in the Big Apple actually bought it, almost as if they weren’t alive during the Biden administration when Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and White House. Both Spanberger and Sherrill, as congresswomen, were staunch supporters of the Inflation Reduction Act, which can objectively be called the worst piece of legislation passed since the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, the bill did nothing to lower inflation, and even former President Joe Biden later admitted he regretted calling it the Inflation Reduction Act.
In the end, this 730-page boondoggle allocated $369 billion to environmental projects, while also giving $64 billion to extend Obamacare insurance subsidies and $4 billion to “Western wildfire resilience,” which did nothing to prevent the worst wildfires in California history under Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) last year.
“I wish I hadn’t called it that because it has less to do with reducing inflation than it has to do with providing alternatives that generate economic growth,” Biden said one year after the IRA was passed.
So here’s the question: How exactly did Democrats grab this affordability mantle? Because you won’t be able to find more hypocritical people on the planet on this side of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Let’s look at Mamdani’s victory celebration last week in Brooklyn as an example. Per the New York Post, “The jubilation at the Brooklyn Paramount was fueled by Mamdani’s win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa – as well as espresso martini coolers that reportedly cost $22 and $15 glasses of Riesling white wine.”
The venue’s menu included “PBR beers at $13, Montauk Summer Ale at $16, Indian Wells Chardonnay for $15 and shaker cup cocktails that cost as much as $22.”
Does that sound affordable to you?
This is the same Mamdani who got married at his family’s million-dollar compound with private security in the otherwise poor country of Uganda. And it’s the same Mamdani who attended the private Bank Street School, which only costs $60,000 per year to attend. How many New Yorkers can afford that?
In New Jersey, Sherrill, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, magically made $7 million in a short period of time, buying and selling defense stocks with impeccable timing. Overall, Sherrill is worth more than $11 million, with much of that money being accumulated only after she was elected to Congress. Yes, just the perfect governor-elect who, in the words of former President Bill Clinton, “can feel your pain.” Spanberger is also worth millions despite earning just $174,000 per year while serving in Congress for the past six years.
If Republicans expect to hold the House and Senate in the midterm elections next year, the party needs to hammer home this point:
Socialism has never worked, yet Sanders is calling Mamdani the new leader of the Democratic Party. He wants to raise taxes on millionaires to pay for all the free stuff he has promised, which is already adding rocket fuel to a mass exodus out of New York.
According to a survey conducted by J.L. Partners, approximately 765,000 New Yorkers are preparing to leave following Mamdani’s election, which is more than the entire populations of Washington, Seattle, Denver, and Nashville, Tennessee. And with that exodus goes all of that tax revenue to pay for Mamdani’s unicorn dreams. As mentioned, this is a mayor who has never run anything in his life, and that’s going to be very apparent after he takes office.
As for Sherrill and Spanberger, it doesn’t get much better: Sherrill says she’ll issue an executive order to prevent electric companies from raising prices, with no sense of history that shows that when the government intervenes with price controls, it always fails. Sherrill also wants to ban the sale of all gas-powered cars by 2035, a move that will make electricity even more unaffordable.
As for Spanberger, she fully supports the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which will ultimately ban oil and gas production in Virginia, mandating that the commonwealth produce 100% renewable electricity by 2050. Result: More than 40% of Virginia’s electricity has to be imported from other states, up from 18% five years ago.
New York is going to learn in a hurry just how disastrous price controls can be as Mamdani goes full socialist in opening government-run grocery stores in the five boroughs. Just ask Mayor Lester “Butch” Klingenberg of Erie City, Kansas, how things went on this front when its program launched five years ago.
“In 2020, we purchased the Erie Market grocery store in Erie, Kansas, and we had one profitable month, and then after that, we were bleeding. We made no profit,” Klingenberg said. “And this went on clear through 2024, and we had to lease it out, lease it out or close it.”
Whole countries have tried this gambit as well, including Cuba and the Soviet Union, resulting in mass food shortages and mile-long lines. But New York somehow voted for this anyway, because either enough voters aren’t informed on history or somehow believe a guy with zero executive experience can pull this off with a wink and a smile.
Can the GOP hold Congress in the 2026 midterm elections? It all depends on what kind of messaging candidates decide to focus on.
And that message should be clear: Democrats had their shot for four years this decade. Spending skyrocketed. The national debt followed suit. Inflation spiked to above 9%, its highest level since 1981. Wages stagnated. Trade deficits exploded. GDP growth went limp.
Voters need to be reminded of this horrific record. That didn’t happen in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City last week.
If Republicans want to avoid House Speaker Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) and the perpetual impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump that will surely follow, call these socialists and big-government believers out. And all that needs that has to be done is to repeat this one word: Bidenomics.
SOCIALISM ISN’T TO BE MOCKED, BUT FEARED
Do we really want a repeat of that?
It’s a rhetorical question.