'Going on offense': Dems to make one issue key focus ahead of midterms

The Democratic Party is set to hone in on one message in particular ahead of the midterms this year.

Party insiders believe the affordability crisis across the country will hit best with voters, and representatives are already shifting the conversation to the cost-of-living crisis. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed affordability will be the main focus of the Democratic Party this election cycle in a statement to Politico.

He said, "Americans are fed up with Republicans’ failure to lower costs, and Democrats are going on offense. Costs will be our number one focus this year as we will stand up for hardworking Americans and fight back against Republicans’ price-spiking policies."

A Blue Rose memo which has taken into account the Democratic Party's performance in the 2024 elections notes there needs to be a "genuine persuasion of swing voters" in key states should gains be made in 2026.

It reads, "Overall, Democratic gains were particularly strong in areas that had swung away from the party in 2024." There was also a note on the "largest rebounds" being in states which the party lost in both 2020 and 2024.

The memo adds that "genuine persuasion of swing voters in addition to an enthusiastic, motivated base. Counties where Democrats lost ground between 2020 and 2024 showed the largest rebounds in 2025."

Schumer's hopes for the midterms come just a few days after Trump joked about cancelling the elections.

Speaking before Republican lawmakers at the Kennedy Center on the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, Trump griped about facing Democrats at all, The Daily Beast reported. He then casually suggested the nuclear option.

“I won’t say cancel the election, they should cancel the election because the fake news will say ‘he wants the elections canceled. He’s a dictator.’ They always call me a dictator,” a grinning Trump said.

“But even if it’s successful, they don’t win. I don’t know what it is. There’s something psychological, like you vote against. But they say that when you win he presidency, you lose the midterm."