Vance touts GOP policies, courts undecided voters ahead of Nov. 3

(The Center Square) – Eight days out from election day, Vice President J.D. Vance attempted to soothe voters’ cost of living concerns, which multiple polls show are currently top of mind for Americans.

With Republicans’ control of Congress at stake, Vance touted the party’s signature accomplishments at a Monday election rally in Montana, though he acknowledged that “there is still so much more we can do together.”

“With America-first allies, we can further reduce your taxes, we can further tear down the bureaucracy of DEI and racial hatred that has infected our classrooms and too many of our companies,” he added, referring to the over $3 trillion in tax cuts in Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” and the Trump administration’s anti-affirmative action policies.

“We can build more; we can build more houses, we can build more factories, we can build more of the good jobs that support our families and sustain our nation,” he promised.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have faced an increasingly unaffordable housing market, record-high inflation, near-continuous price jumps on consumer goods, soaring health insurance premiums, and persistently elevated interest rates.

Many of the second Trump administration’s actions, such as imposing harsh tariffs and attacking Iran, have contributed to or exacerbated what many have dubbed an affordability crisis, a situation that Democrats have hammered Republicans on in election campaigns.

Democrats have in particular tapped into voters’ frustration with high gas prices, a result of the ongoing Iran conflict that disrupted oil transports through the Strait of Hormuz.

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Though Republicans continue to trail Democrats in the polls and have done so since August, Vance urged voters to “judge [Democrats] by what they’ve done,” not “by their well-produced television commercials.”

Vance compared the current spike in gas prices resulting from global conflict to the chronically high gas prices of the former Biden administration, which he argued were in part due to Democrats’ energy policies.

“Now you will hear – and I want to speak a little bit to the undecided voters out there – you will hear many say that gas prices are too high,” Vance said. “And I understand that. I agree with it. But remember in 2022…we’ve got to remember that the Democrat solution to this problem is to whine and build a few windmills,” he quipped.

Vance argued that the U.S. must “build more refineries, build more facilities,” to tackle energy costs in the long run.

To lower costs in the short run, however, some vulnerable Republicans have mulled temporarily suspending the federal gas tax, though Congress failed to vote on any of the gas tax suspension bills introduced.

Congress will have worked only nine full days between July 1st, 2026, and the midterm elections, despite a backlog of crucial responsibilities.

When lawmakers return Nov. 9 for the lame-duck session, they face looming deadlines to authorize the Pentagon’s annual budget, address expiring federal highway support, and fund the entire federal government, a task they are already three months late in doing.