Highest inflation rates hit states with key Senate races, put Democrats on the spot
Top gubernatorial races in key states may have different levels of inflation, but Democrats are in a tough spot to argue against state-level inflation if there is any. As always, there are two sides to a story.
“We’re very vulnerable right now on the inflation level,’’ said former New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien, a Republican. “We’ll see how much we can recover the next three months, but I do think we’re going to have a problem if we don’t control inflation.’’
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee thinks the issue is being blown out of proportion by Republicans, whom they have accused of being the political arm of President-elect Donald Trump. However, Democrats worry that the effects of inflation could be more detrimental to Democrats than they are to the GOP.
“We’ve seen the Republican view that the Democrats don’t have a problem being in a high budget environment, but I think that is not the case,’’ said Tom Thorstad, a Democratic pollster and strategist. “The problem that we see is that the Republican budget cuts disproportionately affect key Democrats, particularly New Jersey, where Sen. Cory Booker is the highest-profile Senate Democrat.’’
As it is, though, both the Democratic and Republican parties are facing some difficulties in their budgets.
The GOP released its budget proposal last week, which would not include any new tax increases or spending increases, but is expected to give $1.5 trillion in spending cuts and $1.5 trillion in tax cuts.
Democrats, though, have released their own budget plan, which they believe will lead to more spending cuts and more tax cuts. The plan is not set in stone yet, and there are still a lot of details that have to be worked out, but the party has begun to lay out its proposals.
The New Jersey Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released the first version of the Democratic state budget proposal on Friday, but there are still a
