“We have a limited amount of money, and what this administration has chosen to do is spend half a billion dollars to build a ballroom, billions of dollars to switch out one dictator for another in Venezuela, tens of billions of dollars to start a war of choice against Iran,” Rep. Jason Crow, an Army combat veteran and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s candidate recruitment co-chair, said in an interview. “The bottom line is the wealthy get wealthier. The elite are protected and get away with whatever they want, and American workers and the rest of us are left holding the bag.”
The Colorado Democrat has emerged as one of the most visible voices making the case. He has argued, in recent cable news and social media blitzes, that Americans would prefer the government tend to their economic needs — and not risky regime-change wars.
Crow, who has been working with progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on a foreign policy for the working class, believes it’s a strategy that’s resonating across the political spectrum and in battleground districts in Wisconsin, Michigan and New Jersey, where he has been campaigning alongside Democratic candidates.
“It’s just fucking true,” he said. “Rural Americans, working class Americans, they know this stuff, they understand what’s going on. They understand how the wool has been pulled over their eyes.”
Public opinion data is backing up the push. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted over the weekend found 27 percent of Americans approve of U.S. military strikes against Iran, while 43 percent disapprove. Nearly half of the people polled said they would be more likely to oppose military action if it led to higher gas prices. Just 5 percent said rising fuel costs would make them more supportive.
The same poll found Trump’s approval on the cost of living at just 29 percent.
Trump, along with fellow Republicans, has argued that his policies are leading to an economic revival and reduced prices. He used his State of the Union address last week to blame Democrats for spiking costs under former President Joe Biden.
“They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie,” Trump said of Democrats during his congressional address. “Their policies created the high prices. Our policies are rapidly ending them.”
Democratic party leaders have made Trump and Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill central to their midterm messaging. They’ve cast the GOP-only package of tax cuts and spending — which includes an extra $150 billion for the Pentagon — as a giveaway to the rich paid for by working-class and poorer Americans through cuts to Medicaid and federal food assistance.
And now they’re linking it to Iran.
“We are seeing the beginning of an all-out war in the Middle East at the same period of time where Donald Trump and his administration, and Republicans, have cut more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a CNN interview Monday.
Republican leaders argue that voters’ outlook will improve once major elements of that law take effect next year, including eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay and expanding the child tax credit.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) argued that voters are also motivated by national security concerns, calling Democratic arguments “remarkably silly.”
“The very first responsibility of the president and the commander in chief is to protect the safety of Americans,” he said. “Americans want life to be affordable. They also want not to be murdered by terrorists, and both are important priorities for the president.”
Democrats insist they can have an opening with a foreign policy tie-in to the economy.
“We’ve all learned in Trump world that there are always distractions that change every week, and this happens to be a major one,” Democratic strategist Paul Maslin said. “A chaotic world while I’m still getting hurt by inflation and cost of living and affordability is going to be an active part of our messaging this year, no matter what.”
Democrats, led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), are also forcing votes this week to block further military operations against Iran without congressional approval.
“What we see a year-end is health care up, food up, energy costs up, so many other costs … And this action will almost certainly drive the cost of oil, energy costs, even higher,” Kaine, a former Democratic National Committee chair, told reporters. “So the president who ran to do one thing — bring down costs for Americans — is ignoring that.”
Other Democrats are homing in on gas prices and troop impacts.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) is warning that the turmoil in the region is already pushing oil prices higher. With roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, she argued, any lengthy conflict would translate into high costs for American families.
“Americans are demanding help with the cost-of-living crisis, but President Trump would rather start another war, potentially driving up energy prices, than listen to them,” said DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Some Democrats are highlighting the potential impact on troops. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, said he lost friends in what he called an illegal war. “Young working-class kids should not pay the ultimate price for regime change and a war that hasn’t been explained or justified to the American people,” he wrote on X. “We can support the democracy movement and the Iranian people without sending our troops to die.”
Jack Detsch contributed to this report.