This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s partnership with NOTUS, a nonpartisan news organization that covers government and politics with the fresh eyes of early career journalists and the expertise of veteran reporters.
Republicans insist their party’s midterm messaging will center on lowering the cost of living. But they’re kicking off 2026 talking mostly about regime change in Venezuela and President Donald Trump’s other foreign policy priorities.
With the campaign season well underway, GOP lawmakers – especially those in swing districts – are navigating how to reconcile both issues.
“I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive, right?” Rep. Tom Barrett of Michigan, who represents a seat ranked as one of the most competitive in the country, told NOTUS. “I mean, we have foreign policy and domestic policy that both have to happen separate from one another.”
House Republicans have a paper-thin margin for error to execute this balancing act. Speaker Mike Johnson’s conference can afford to lose just a few seats to retain the majority next year. Republicans in swing districts — which have seen a surge in backlash to the incumbent party support during midterm years — are staring down the challenging task of showing they are dealing with kitchen table issues while responding to Trump’s ballooning, and initially unpopular, foreign policy agenda.
Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of House Republicans’ campaign arm, told NOTUS he has no concern that the Venezuela news will overshadow the party’s economic messaging.
“We can walk and chew gum, we do multiple things at once,” Hudson said. “The reason we maintained the majority last time is Republicans were laser focused on cost of living, on issues that people care about, and we’re going to continue to focus on those, but we can do foreign policy at the same time.”
Democrats successfully hammered concerns about rising health care and grocery prices in 2025, winning gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey by comfortable margins. Congressional candidates from both parties are already stressing economic issues heavily. Barrett told NOTUS the GOP can’t ignore issues overseas because of domestic concerns, “Like that doesn’t really logically make a lot of sense. We have to do both. We have to do both well, and we have to do both successfully.”
Some Republicans argue foreign policy and the economy are enmeshed issues.
“Foreign policy is critically important for national security, and it also does play into affordability as well. We live in a market global economy now where everything is interconnected,” said Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania, another lawmaker Democrats believe is a top tier target to defeat next November. “You see a war in Ukraine affects food prices, hostilities in Venezuela affect oil prices. So all of these things are interconnected.”
Mackenzie added that in his district, “We have over 3,000 people of Venezuelan descent. So for them, this is very important as well.”
“You can’t ignore national security and foreign policy issues to the detriment of domestic issues. They have to go hand in hand, and that’s what we’re doing here,” the Pennsylvania Republican continued.
Rep. Nick LaLota of New York went so far as to argue that the U.S. strike of Venezuela and capture of deposed leader Nicolás Maduro boosts Republicans’ tough-on-crime credentials — another key GOP messaging item.
“Where I’m from, the economy, affordability matters and public safety, national security matters. And we delivered on both of those issues,” he told NOTUS. “Securing the border and ridding the world of folks like Maduro helps towards public safety, national security.”
Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, whose seat became even more competitive following the passage of Proposition 50, said that handling a variety of issues is essentially part of the job they signed up for.
“Presidents have done it since the beginning of the Republic, and as has the United States Congress, I think that we’re expected to deal with a whole host of policy issues,” Kiley told NOTUS. But, he added, “it is true that we want to make sure that we are especially attentive to those areas that need special attention and right now, for many, many Americans, that’s the cost of living.”
“The issue of affordability just needs to be a constant threat that we’re working on addressing in every single way that we can, irrespective of whatever else,” Kiley continued.
Democrats have seized on Trump’s foreign policy exploits, including Venezuela and his aspirations to acquire Greenland, to paint Republicans as out-of-touch with Americans’ concerns.
“House Democrats are going to continue to fight to lower the high cost of living, fix our broken health care system and make life better for everyday Americans, while Donald Trump and the administration is off starting wars, most recently connected to the unauthorized military action in Venezuela,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Monday.
Democrats are gleefully hammering GOP lawmakers for exacerbating the cost of living by failing to extend Affordable Care Act tax subsidies and cutting about $1 trillion from Medicaid in their massive reconciliation bill. They are leaning on Trump’s foreign policy focus to help make that case.
In a statement after Trump addressed the House GOP Tuesday, Justin Chermol, a spokesman for the House Democrats’ campaign arm, said that “House Republicans left without a 2026 legislative strategy from their true speaker, Donald Trump.”
“Turns out he knew the strategy all along: use tax dollars to buy Greenland instead of lowering health care costs for hardworking Americans,” Chermol said.
But Republicans aren’t fazed.
“The American people are more than capable of understanding the different issues that we deal with on a daily basis here in Washington,” Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents another swing district where Republicans expect a tight race this fall, told NOTUS.
He then added that the focus on Venezuela will be a fleeting one: “It’s Jan. 6,” Lawler said. “By the time you get to next week, there’'ll be other things.”