Our most recent book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. It includes a chapter on congressional and state elections. In 2024, the book explains, the Democrats' problems involved reality, not just messaging. Two years later, Republicans own the reality problems, including the Iran quagmire and the resulting economic pain. Those problems will affect the midterm far more than the GOP midterm "convention."
Consumer prices rose 3.4% in August from a year earlier, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Average hourly earnings, meanwhile, increased just 3.1% over the same period, according to a separate BLS report released Friday. Real average hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, fell 0.1% from July and were down 0.3% from a year earlier in August.
The gap between inflation and wage growth is a stark reminder that workers are losing purchasing power.
Roger Marshall gets shouted down when he attempts to gaslight Kansans about gas prices under Trump:
— Kelsie Taggart (@kelsientaggart) September 12, 2026
"The average cost of gasoline is less under President Trump than it was under Joe Biden."#KSSen #KSLeg pic.twitter.com/4q82UozvKd
