Posted on 10/08/2026 6:40:09 AM PDT by MtnClimber
We are now less than a month out from the mid-term elections, and the single biggest theme that the Democrats have chosen to run on appears to be “affordability.”
How can this possibly be? We live in the age of immediate availability of information, let alone artificial intelligence to track down anything that might previously have been challenging to find. If you want a state-by-state comparison of costs for any particular thing, you can get it in a fraction of a second. The results are in: the Democrat-run states are less “affordable.”
The Democrats and Republicans propose opposite strategies for dealing with the economy. The Democrats advocate for higher government spending, higher taxes, and more regulation of business; and the Republicans advocate for lower spending, lower taxes, and less regulation of business. The states are the “laboratories of democracy,” where we get to see the consequences of disparate policies play out, and to evaluate the results. Neither party is perfect in implementing what it advocates, so there are always some complexities. But in the main it is easy to collect data that give a relatively clear picture of the results of Democrat versus Republican policies.
So let’s consider some examples from among the most prominent issues today.
Electricity Prices.
The federal government’s Energy Information Administration puts out monthly data (with some lag) of state-by-state average electricity prices per kWh to the “ultimate consumer.” Here is the latest chart (July 2026 data). There are separate columns for electricity prices for “residential,” “commercial,” “industrial,” “transportation,” and “all sectors.” The “residential” column is perhaps most relevant to the “affordability” issue.
The national average residential price is 18.31¢/kWh. Alaska and Hawaii are outliers due to geographic remoteness. Putting those aside, the highest prices are in the deepest blue states that have most aggressively pursued the fossil fuel suppression policies to “save the planet” from climate change. California has the highest prices among the lower 48 (33.61¢/kWh), followed by a gaggle of Northeastern states that have joined the “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative” to intentionally drive up their electricity prices (Maine 32.41¢/kWh; Massachusetts 30.49¢/kWh; New York 29.90¢/kWh; Rhode Island 28.29¢/kWh; New Hampshire 26.60¢/kWh; New Jersey 25.19¢/kWh). At the other end of the price spectrum, we find either Republican-run states or a few Democrat states with the good fortune of cheap hydropower: Louisiana 12.72¢/kWh; Nevada 12.77¢/kWh; Utah 13.12¢/kWh; North Dakota 13.41¢/kWh; Tennessee 13.71¢/kWh; Idaho 13.73¢/kWh; Nebraska 13.78¢/kWh; Kentucky 13.81¢/kWh; Wyoming 14.36¢/kWh; Oklahoma 14.35¢/kWh; Arkansas 14.33¢/kWh.
There really can’t be any doubt at this point about which set of policies leads to cheaper electricity.
Gasoline Prices.
Differences in gasoline prices present a red/blue divide that is not quite as clear as differences in electricity prices, but it is close.
The American Automobile Association publishes data on State Gas Price Averages, up-to-date every day. Here is today’s chart. (That link may go to charts that change each day.). They publish a color-coded map indicating states with high, medium and low average prices:
If you go to the link and hover your cursor above any state, you will get today’s price for that state. The swath of mostly Republican-led states across the South and Midwest has the lowest prices. California again has the highest of the lower 48: $6.3602 today, against a national average of $4.3667. The reasons for California’s extraordinarily high prices have been well publicized: a combination of environmental restrictions on drilling and on refineries (causing many of those to close), plus special required blends of gasoline, and high taxes. California’s restrictions on refineries have had the unfortunate effect of dragging many neighboring states, even partially or fully red ones, into gasoline price purgatory, although the prices in these states are much lower than in California (e.g., Nevada $5.4645; Idaho $4.9303; Arizona $4.7263). High prices in the blue Northeastern states are driven by regulations and high taxes (e.g., New York $4.4678; Connecticut $4.4437; Massachusetts $4.3452).
State and Local Tax Burden
The Tax Foundation publishes a chart of annual state and local tax collections per capita. Here is their chart for 2026. D.C. ranks number one at $15,009, followed by New York ($12,506), North Dakota, Hawaii, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Mexico, California, Vermont and Illinois ($8,339) to round out the top ten. North Dakota is the only red state outlier there, explained by the fact that they produce a lot of oil, taxed at the well-head, and have a small population. So the tax burden on the populace is actually low.
At the low end it is entirely red states with the possible exception of purple-ish Arizona (in order starting from the lowest: Mississippi ($4,868), Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Arizona, Idaho, Florida, Missouri, South Dakota, Arkansas, Oklahoma ($5,312)).
How Democrats can claim the mantle of “affordability” in the face of easily-available data like these is beyond me.
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Manhattan Contrarian ping
two words: willing media
The media says everything is expensive everywhere.
The media says it’s all Trump’s fault.
Ignorant people nod and agree that Trump is a Nazi.
I don’t get it either. Housing affordability has been a piece of this debate. Yet some of the most expensive housing in America is found in places where Democrats are in control politically. Democrat policies are part of the reason housing is so expensive in those places.
If there’s any intellectual honesty, it’s very difficult for Democrats to talk about affordability, and how voting Democrat will somehow make life more affordable.
Because of the MSM.
RE: How Can Democrats Possibly Run On “Affordability”?
Because it WORKED ( see NYC where the communist became the Mayor ).
Voters tend to see their own current economic situation, anre dissatisfied, and then tell themselves, hey, maybe a change will improve our situation.
It’s the “Grass is greener on the other side” syndrome, except the grass IS NOT ALWAYS greener.
The Iranians had this same mentality in 1979. They disliked the Shah and replaced him with the Ayatollah. Now almost 50 years later, they have to shoot themselves out of their previous situation.
There goal is power...and taking your money in the process. Life will never be better with them in power.
While it's true the affordability problem started with Biden and the supply chain crisis and is the result of Democrat program, it continued into the Trump administration. And because Republicans refused to even acknowledge the affordability problem the Democrats ran with the issue they created.
These lefty candidates that run on "affordability" are never asked by the media how they plan to bring down the price of gas and food.
Inflation reached 9.1% during the Biden years:
"The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose approximately 18.9% to 19.3% overall during Biden's tenure, with grocery prices increasing by about 23%."
Trump years:
Period Avg. Annual Inflation
2017–2020 1.9%–2.5%: Low, stable; dipped in
2020
2025–2026 2.6%–3.4%: Above Fed target; tariff
impact
Gas and food will most likely never go down again, what we have now is the "new normal." Good luck finding gas under $6.00/gallon in California - b/c of blue state high taxes and "green" policies.
The dimocRATS have convinced many voters that expensive prices are Trump’s fault.
because Republicans are letting them.
All I hear is bla bla bla about gays and trans whatever.
When it should be non stop blasting of socialist policies that have caused everything to cost so much and how much worse it will be if they take power! higher taxes, more regulation, ect
Yes, trans crap can be talked about too. But the fact is people cant afford food and housing!!! Put the blame where it belongs for that! ON LIBERALS!!!!!!
Why call it affordability instead of inflation? Because every democratic plan will cause runaway inflation
While I understand why the author could ask that, I don’t know why he bothered to do so. The Democrats can and do run on anything regardless of how absurd it is because they can get away with it. The media is on their side and their own followers are embarrassingly ignorant. Or at least they would be embarrassed were they capable of it.
.
Because they lie with impunity and the MSM will support and bolster the lie with false stories.
Mortgage rates are high because fiscal discipline has been lost in DC.
Congress votes to spend money.
I have not personally seen or heard a young person demanding a balanced budget (or budget control) amendment.
I have not personally seen or heard a real estate agent demanding a balanced budget (or budget control) amendment.
Congress votes to spend money.
Because people vote for Congress to vote to spend money.
They are ALL also running on “no data centers”. (As if they knew what they were).
Every commercial I see has it.
What happened to Flock caneras?
A house ~100 feet from mine sold for $490,000 in about 8 days.
The owner bought it a few years back for $160,000 and put a lot of money into it.
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