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FIRST ON FOX: House GOP leaders are quietly laying their battle plans for the final month ahead of the November midterm elections.
A new memo being sent to Republicans across the country, first obtained by Fox News Digital, reveals four key topics that the House GOP is focusing on in the final four weeks before the election: the border, fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars, the economy, and public safety.
“I think these are the points that the voters actually care most about,” House GOP Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., who leads Republicans’ messaging strategy, told Fox News Digital. “[Democrats] want open borders. They want to defund the police, they want to take more money out of your pocket and give it to somebody else. They believe in bigger government. We believe in people… So those are the things that we’re really hammering home during this election.”
It comes as Republicans fight an uphill battle to keep control of Congress for the latter half of President Donald Trump’s final term.
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Democrats led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are in a messaging war with Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans as the midterm elections loom. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
A recent Fox News poll found Democrats have a wider path to victory than Republicans in the House. Democrats are projected to win 215 seats compared to 201 for the GOP, meaning the left only needs three more victories out of the 19 possible toss-up races to clinch a majority. Republicans would need to win at least 17 of those races.
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Republicans are also seeing political opportunity in the far-left insurgency that’s gripped the Democratic Party during its primary cycle, warning that socialists are pushing the party further left than the majority of Americans.
On the economy, which is a focus of week two in the GOP memo, Republican incumbents and candidates are encouraged to talk about “putting more money back in Americans’ pockets and creating more opportunities to get ahead through hard work, ownership, and economic freedom.”
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The economy, including high grocery and gas prices, has become a central issue in the 2026 election cycle.
Democrats have seized on Americans’ struggle with cost-of-living as a political cudgel against Republicans, particularly using Trump’s tariffs on allies like Canada and his war in Iran as arguments against the GOP.
Chairwoman Lisa McClain Hosts “A Warning to America: Stories from Survivors of Communism” Roundtable. (Courtesy of House Republican Conference)
McClain acknowledged Americans’ concerns, urging Republicans to be forthright with their voters but warning that Democrats’ high-tax policies would worsen the situation. She also pointed to the low poverty rate and Trump’s new trade deals as positives the GOP could highlight.
“What we’re not going to do is gaslight the American people, right? That’s what the Democrats did, and it didn’t work well for them,” she said, referencing former President Joe Biden’s handling of high inflation during his term. “But you have to take a look at the alternative. The alternative is absolutely terrifying.”
“We had a massive hole that we were digging out of under Biden. We have more work to do, of course we do, but do you want our trajectory, or do you want to go back to 9% inflation, open borders, and, and higher taxes? Because I tell everybody, every single Democrat voted to raise your taxes. They want more of your money.”
She echoed Trump’s assurances that gas prices would drop when the conflict with Iran ended, adding, “We also don’t want the number one state sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon, and we have to protect Americans from that.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s polling is underwater, with the most recent Fox News survey from mid-September finding his disapproval rating at 61%. Trump’s favorability remains a high 79% with Republican voters, however, meaning the GOP could still prevail by turning out the base on Nov. 3.
One of the most decisive issues of his 2024 victory proved to be illegal immigration and the border, a fervor Republicans are hoping they can harness again come November.
Fox News Digital obtained a copy of how House GOP leaders are urging their lawmakers to message to voters in the final days before the midterm elections. (House GOP Conference/Fox News Digital)
The memo encouraged Republicans to discuss “protecting America by stopping illegal immigration, enforcing our laws, and knowing who is entering the country.”
McClain pointed to policies promoted by far-left Democrats like abolishing police — and some mainstream Democrats’ backing of sanctuary jurisdictions — as a contrast point for the election, while arguing Republicans were still supportive of legal immigration.
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“They tell you they want to defund the police. They tell you they want sanctuary cities. These are their words, not mine. These are the policies…they want,” McClain said. “The Republicans, we want immigration, we believe in immigration, but we want people to come in the right way and we darn sure want to make sure we know who’s coming across.”