WASHINGTON TIMES: DAVID BOSSIE: The midterms will be a referendum on Biden’s record

GOP Rep. Mayra Flores’ surprise win in the special election for the U.S. House seat in Texas’ 34th Congressional District this past June is looking more and more like a canary in a coal mine for the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Ms. Flores won the race convincingly in a reliably blue district where the Democratic incumbent won with 55% of the vote just two years ago.

When Politico asked recently “Is the Dobbs effect fading?” they really should have asked if the liberal media-fed outrage of Dobbs was fading. Either way, the answer is an emphatic yes. Unfortunately for desperate Democrats, the 2022 election isn’t about the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and the left’s extreme abortion position any more than it’s about the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The 2022 midterms are about the wrong track America is on under total Democratic control. A Joe Biden-inspired malaise has set in around us — high inflation, high crime, high gas prices, open borders and more pessimism and division among our citizens than ever.

In poll after poll, we see the exact same thing. The most important issue on people’s minds is the economy and the sky-high high cost of living caused by President Biden’s irresponsible out of control spending bills.

Recent headlines such as “Biden hit on economy as more say finances poor,” “Wholesale prices rose 0.4% in September, more than expected as inflation persists,” “$4 gas could be coming — again” and “U.S. mortgage interest rates rise to highest level since 2006” are what’s weighing on hardworking American families, not abortion or the Jan. 6 political witch hunt in Congress.

And to make matters worse for Mr. Biden and congressional Democrats, the latest consumer price index report showed an explosive 8.2% increase in inflation from this time last year — a constant reminder of the catastrophe that’s taken hold in America. If you live in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire or Nevada, Sens. Mark Kelly, Raphael Warnock, Maggie Hassan and Catherine Cortez Masto must be held accountable for making this inflation nightmare a reality with their votes enabling the failed Biden agenda.

Most everyone agrees — with the exception of delusional House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — that Republicans are going to win back the majority in the House of Representatives; the only question is how many seats. Recent survey data in some “off the radar” House races could help answer that question. For example, in Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District — a D+4 district — Republican Allan Fung is beating his Democratic opponent 45% to 37%. In California’s 21st Congressional District — not exactly a conservative bastion with its D+9 ranking — there’s a poll showing incumbent Democrat Jim Costa tied with his GOP challenger at 44%. This district isn’t even among the 84 most competitive House races according to the Cook Political Report.

In Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, Biden-enabling incumbent David Trone is trailing his Republican opponent, Neil Parrott, 45% to 43% according to public polling, despite millions in negative advertising attacking Mr. Parrott. In the race for the open seat in upstate New York’s 22nd Congressional District — a true toss-up seat — Republican political outsider Brandon Williams is leading his liberal opponent Francis Conole 45% to 40%. And Mr. Biden was forced to travel to deep blue Oregon last week in an attempt to prop up the flagging campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek, who trails her GOP opponent, Christine Drazan, 44% to 38%.

The trends are unmistakable; Republicans have the wind at their backs with less than a month to go until Election Day on Nov. 8.

These polls indicate that the electorate is poised to make a change in Congress that will act as a check and balance on the dangerous agenda of the Biden administration. If Democrats are having trouble holding on to seats in Rhode Island, California, Maryland, New York and Oregon, they’re in for a very long night in battleground districts in Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nevada and Arizona.

Let’s face it: Mr. Biden is focused on campaigning in Democratic strongholds because he’s too unpopular to go anywhere else. Remember, this president promised to unite America but is running a very negative and divisive administration. He promised to be the moderate “adult in the room” but instead caved to unhinged socialists at every turn. He could have stood with our heroic police when it mattered most, but Mr. Biden fanned the flames of the defund police movement on the extreme left. He could have been there for parents, but it was politically expedient for the president to lock arms with deep-pocketed teacher unions.

And now, as a result of Mr. Biden’s untold trillions upon trillions in new federal spending in the face of all the dire inflation warning signs, the American people are in a fix that’s going to take years to recover from. This is why the polls are where they are. Mr. Biden’s fatally flawed vision isn’t working, and America needs an immediate change in direction.

  • David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United and he served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President.