President Donald Trump’s administration is conducting a serious post-mortem after Democrats swept major races across the country Tuesday, with his deputy chief of staff pointing to a critical mistake: Republicans failed to talk about what voters care about most.
Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair delivered a blunt assessment to Politico, explaining that the GOP lost ground because they didn’t focus on affordability while Democrats hammered that message home.
The elections came just one year after Trump secured his return to the White House.
Blair pointed to New York City’s mayoral race as a prime example.
Socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani won decisively, and Blair credited his relentless focus on one issue.
“Why did Zohran Mamdani do so well last night? He relentlessly focused on affordability,” Blair said.
“People talk about communists, they can say all these things, but the fact is he was talking about the cost of living.”
The deputy chief of staff didn’t spare Republican candidates from criticism.
He specifically called out New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, where Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
Blair noted that Sherrill centered her campaign on pocketbook issues, including lowering power costs. Meanwhile, Ciattarelli took a different approach.
“Jack [Ciattarelli] didn’t really talk about that,” Blair told the outlet.
“He talked about taxes, and he won the tax vote, but he didn’t address those key issues of affordability very effectively. He was mostly talking generically about change to Jersey. And I’m not denigrating Jack, but it was not in line necessarily with what voters were saying.”
The criticism extended to Virginia, where Republicans also came up short.
Blair said the GOP gubernatorial candidate made a strategic error by focusing on issues that don’t resonate with voters.
“In Virginia, over half of Winsome Sears’ ads talked about transgender. And it’s not even the top five issues, according to voters,” Blair said.
Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger won Virginia’s gubernatorial election.
Trump himself addressed the election results Wednesday morning during a breakfast meeting with Congressional Republicans.
The president acknowledged the disappointing night and connected it to ongoing political challenges in Washington.
“Last night, it was not expected to be a victory, it was very Democrat areas. But I don’t think it was good for Republicans. I don’t think it was good — I’m not sure it was good for anybody,” he said, per Daily Caller reporting.
“But we had an interesting evening, and we learned a lot and we’re going to talk about that.”
The president identified two key factors that hurt Republicans at the ballot box. The government shutdown emerged as a major liability for the party.
“I think, if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor. Negative for the Republicans, and that was a big factor,” Trump said.
He also noted that his absence from the ballot presented challenges for GOP candidates.
Trump used the meeting to push Congressional leaders on eliminating the filibuster.
He told them he would focus his efforts on convincing them to take that step.
Blair made clear that the administration is already pivoting to the 2026 midterms with a renewed focus. The economy will take center stage in Republican messaging going forward.
“The president is very keyed into what’s going on, and he recognizes, like anybody, that it takes time to do an economic turnaround, but all the fundamentals are there, and I think you’ll see him be very, very focused on prices and cost of living,” Blair told the outlet.
