President Trump visited Corpus Christi on the final Tuesday before the midterm election to discuss economic concerns. He said, "I got elected because of high prices." While the economy grew at a 3.4 percent rate this summer, rising costs continue to hurt many voters, potentially threatening the party's future control.

A backlash over high prices helped Republicans capture a majority in 2024. Now, it may be the source of the party's own undoing.

On the final Tuesday before the midterm election, President Trump found himself in Corpus Christi, Texas, musing aloud about the political forces that had propelled his return to office two years earlier.

"I got elected because of high prices," he told rallygoers in a state that has become the site of an unexpectedly close Senate race. Then the president turned his ire toward Democrats: "I didn't have the high prices. They had the high prices."

For Mr. Trump, that previous source of political strength now threatens to topple Republicans in 2026. The fate of the party's control of Congress may well hinge on the depth of voters' fury with the rising cost of living -- and the president's unmet promises to do something about it.

The concern among Republicans has been evident as Mr. Trump crisscrosses the country in an 11th-hour campaign sprint. He has tried to present the economy as strong, growing and rife with new investment, while downplaying the fact that inflation has clearly worsened under his party's stewardship.

Offering a final snapshot on the state of the economy before Election Day, a set of government reports on Thursday confirmed some of Mr. Trump's claims and undercut others. The data showed that the economy was indeed expanding at a faster clip, with a key measure of its total output increasing at a 3.4 percent annual rate this summer. But prices also accelerated, rising more rapidly in September compared with a year earlier, and continuing to outpace wage gains.

As a result, Mr. Trump's message contrasted with the experience of voters, who see the harsh realities of a high-cost economy every day -- when they fill up their gas tanks, shop for groceries, pay their health insurance premiums, receive their credit card bills and confront the difficulties of homeownership.

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