FOUR things Republicans should relentlessly focus on to win the midterms
As 2025 comes to a close, it’s time to focus on the future and lock in hard to ensure President Donald Trump’s America First agenda flourishes rather than wilts
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane | December 29, 2025
With a burgeoning New Year just around the corner, the first year of President Donald Trump’s second historic term in office has nearly come to a close, and Americans everywhere are reflecting on the successes of this administration.
2025 has heralded some historic wins (like operational control of the southern border) and some historic lows (like the horrific assassination of Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk).
Now that the year is over, it’s time to reflect on all that has unfolded in 2025 and realistically assess whether the current policies and messaging choices will be enough to maintain Republican majorities in the House and Senate – and whether the GOP has maintained or lost momentum.
According to Kalshi’s latest prediction market, Democrats have a 76 percent chance of retaking the House majority after the 2026 midterm elections, strongly suggesting that American voters are less-than-enthused about what the GOP has managed to get done this year.
To be clear, this isn’t necessarily a reflection of President Trump’s administration. Rather, it’s a reflection of a GOP majority that has largely refused to remain unified or codify anything that truly matters to the America First base.
To win the midterms, the GOP must relentlessly focus on four major topics that matter to the everyday American man and woman.
1: The price of living
Affordability is the number one problem in America today. Inflicted by Joe Biden’s dumpster fire of an economy, the devastating effects of lawless migration and reckless policies continue to linger.
There have certainly been huge improvements, thanks to President Trump’s policies. The third quarter GDP estimate, for example, projected a 4.3 percent growth rate this year, which exceeded expectations. But reported by LindellTV, although inflationary pressure has decreased, it is still present even amid rising GDP.
There is still much work to be done.
Alarmingly, the difference between median home prices and the average household income in America has spiked to a whopping $343,000 gap – the largest in U.S. history.
This isn’t just a fluke, either. A report from the National Association of REALTORS in 2025 showed that just 21 percent of all home buyers this year were first-time buyers, a historic low. Even worse, the average age of first-time buyers has jumped to 40-years-old, meaning young Americans – key demographics like Gen Z and even Millennials – are not able to harness the economic wealth to buy a home.
According to a POLITICO Poll/Public First survey this fall, 56 percent of Americans believe that the cost of living is too high, and therefore find it to be the most pressing issue of the moment. This was followed closely by the “poor state of the economy,” “taxes are too high,” and “healthcare is too hard to access.”
The message is loud and clear: whether the economy has improved at all is not the issue. The problem is that it has not improved enough, and Americans are feeling the pain. If Republicans care about winning the midterms, they will aggressively pursue economic solutions alongside the Trump administration.
2: Codifying President Trump’s executive orders
President Donald Trump didn’t win by a landslide in November 2024 because the American people wanted him to sit behind the Resolute Desk and merely look presidential.
The president won big last year because voters want to see his policies codified.
To date, President Trump has signed a whopping 225 executive orders in 2025 alone, and the Republican majority has done little to nothing to codify many of those orders.
Aside from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” in July, which did indeed implement key Trump campaign promises like the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime, the GOP has mostly ignored the America First movement and played petty politics.
Congress saw just 61 bills approved this year, a historic low when compared against an average of at least 300-500 during other terms.
Republican majorities in both chambers – however slim those majorities may be – should be pushing bills to the floor as fast as they can, and yet, they refuse to do so.
Speaker Mike Johnson said in December that the Republican House had codified 70 of the president’s executive actions, and noted that the House would work to further codify up to 150 more in 2026.
It seems unbelievable that he wouldn’t direct House Republicans to prioritize doing so in 2025, when the majority was fresh, and the political momentum was on their side.
If Speaker Johnson is even remotely serious about winning the 2026 midterms, he will pursue this agenda unapologetically and unify the conference to ensure the president’s key agenda items are made permanent.
3: Viable solutions for healthcare
The expiration of the ACA tax credits for at least 22 million Americans on New Year’s Day is a devastating blow to the Republican Party. While it is true that the healthcare premium crisis was sparked by Democrats, the reality is that the problem must now be dealt with, and Republicans are currently the reigning political party. This makes it their problem.
The average American did nothing to drive up the cost of healthcare premium costs – politicians and their relentless, crushing greed did.
Now, Americans are facing an average monthly premium price increase of 114 percent, affecting mostly low-income Americans and those who are self-employed.
This is an untenable real-life disaster for many Americans, and it represents political suicide for the Republican Party. With unattainable health insurance and nightmarish premium prices, Americans will lay the blame at the GOP’s doorstep – as they should.
The Republican Party’s policy pitch of HSAs with a one-time deposit of just $1,000 to cover healthcare costs – when most premiums cost more than that every month – is a slap in the face to working Americans. It is, in essence, the GOP’s “let them eat cake” moment.
To win the midterms, Republicans must fix their messaging on this critical issue, acknowledge that Americans need relief (especially young voters), and take action to permanently provide a solution that actually works.
4: Prosecuting the bad guys
One of the reasons why President Donald Trump also won his election in 2024 was that the American people were sick and tired of a rogue and corrupt political ruling class that got away with even the worst kinds of crimes.
Since 2020, there have been rampant reports of alleged election and voting fraud, government waste and abuse, and serious misbehavior from American lawmakers. And yet, it seems that little has been done to bring anyone to justice.
As reports about alleged Somali-linked corruption and abuse in Minnesota have gone viral this week, for example, it looks bad that the FBI, led by Director Kash Patel, seems to have only publicly commented on the region’s rampant issues because of social-media-propelled independent reporting.
Amid allegations of immigration fraud and even voter fraud operations in Minnesota, it begs the question: where is the justice?
“Kash should already have a task force,” political commentator Mike Cernovich noted on X, in response to comments from Vice President J.D. Vance on the Minnesota saga.
He continued, “This investigation should not have had to have been done by a YouTuber. Not to diminish Nick, he does great work. It brings shame to the FBI / DOJ that nobody thought to do this. Do people want to be podcasters or to do their official jobs?”
He’s right. What about the Trump campaign’s long-term goals of rooting out waste, fraud, and corruption through DOGE? With the departure of Elon Musk as its mastermind and the decentralization of the key agency, rooting out corruption in the future seems uncertain.
It’s unclear what’s going on internally, but one thing is certain: Americans are hungry for real justice, real accountability, and real consequences for bad people who do bad things, no matter what their political affiliation may be.
The bottom line
If Republicans’ goal is to maintain their majorities and avoid unending impeachments against President Trump and obstructions from Democrats, they will focus on these four major issues and lock in to win by showing Americans tangible solutions.
If they fail to do so, the GOP will only prove that not only are they unwilling to do what it takes to win, but that they are purposely choosing to throw their races. It remains to be seen which path the Republican Party will take, but hopefully, they will choose to unify and listen to the overwhelming needs of the American people who powerfully made their voices heard in November 2024.
Photo: Adobe Stock
