{"id":827085,"date":"2026-08-27T02:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/827085\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T02:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:34:11","slug":"new-inflation-data-delivers-blow-to-republicans-campaigning-on-economic-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/827085\/","title":{"rendered":"New inflation data delivers blow to Republicans campaigning on economic strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 It hasn’t been easy for Republicans running in the midterm elections to convince voters<\/a> that life has gotten more affordable with their party in control of Congress and the White House \u2013 and it just got even harder.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis released July’s Personal Consumption Expenditures price index showing prices rose 3.7% over 12 months. (TNND)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis released July’s Personal Consumption Expenditures price index showing prices rose 3.7% over 12 months. When President Donald Trump began his second term with Republican majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, the same gauge was 2.5%.<\/p>\n

Minutes after the PCE was released, Trump told conservative radio host Glenn Beck, “The prices are coming down very rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n

One year and seven months after taking the oath of office, Trump continued to blame his predecessor for the high cost of living. His denial of the issue topping Americans’ minds, which he pledged as a candidate to ameliorate, has left some Republican candidates walking a thin line between distancing themselves from the president’s economic record and igniting his ire or losing his supporters. <\/p>\n

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is attempting to walk that line as she runs for reelection against Democrat Troy Jackson. She did not attend a Monday rally in her state headlined by Vice President JD Vance. Her campaign said it was due to a scheduling conflict, but two days earlier, she issued a critical statement about the president’s new tariffs on Canadian goods, which she said “will increase costs for Maine families, as most businesses will have no choice but to pass on the tariffs to their customers through higher prices.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Maine is considered one of five “toss-up” U.S. Senate races by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, along with Michigan, Ohio, Alaska and, as of Wednesday, Texas, which hasn’t had a Democratic U.S. Senator in more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

Ralph Alvarado, Trump’s endorsed candidate in the race to represent Kentucky’s Sixth Congressional District, has visibly distanced himself from the president. The homepage of his campaign website no longer says “President Trump needs more allies in Congress”; it now reads, “In Congress, I\u2019ll work with both parties to fight for affordable healthcare, lower costs, and practical solutions that help Kentucky families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarado also removed a photo of him posing with Trump \u2013 and all mentions of Trump \u2013 from his homepage. It’s a noteworthy pivot, considering this race isn’t considered particularly competitive, and Alvarado isn’t running against an incumbent. University of Virginia’s Center for Politics ranks Kentucky’s Sixth District as “likely” Republican. <\/p>\n

For the most part, Republicans are sticking with the president and his economic messaging<\/a>. The Republican National Committee announced Trump will headline the party’s first-ever midterms<\/a> convention in Dallas next month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 It hasn’t been easy for Republicans running in the midterm elections to convince voters that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-827085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}