GOP chair’s midterms message: Economy is booming, ‘let’s not go back’ to Democrats

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel on Sunday presented her closing argument for the midterms that the GOP should retain its majorities in Congress because of a “booming” economy and urged voters to “not go back” to Democrats.

McDaniel, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” also claimed that Democrats don’t have a message ahead of this week’s midterms other than to resist President Trump.

{mosads}”Democrats, what are they running on? What’s their vision? Stop him, resist, obstruct? They can’t take any credit for this good economy because they’ve sat on their hands for two years and all they’ve done is try to stop this president from being successful,” she said.

McDaniel added that the Republicans have a track record and noted the current state of the economy, pointing to employment rates, tax cuts and gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

“We are going to the American people and saying we have delivered, your lives are better. The economy’s booming. Let’s not go back,” she said.

Trump has often pointed to the American economy during his presidency as evidence that he has been successful in office. He has argued that deregulation and the GOP tax cuts passed last year have added to the growing economy.

Critics argue that Trump is benefiting from policies former President Obama put into place.

Trump has also frequently touted the success of the stock market, though the market recently experienced a massive drop and lost the entirety of its gains in 2018.

McDaniels separately told ABC’s “This Week” that she believes the gains the economy has made will be enough to help Republicans hold the House, where many predict they will lose their majority.

“Absolutely not,” she said, when asked if she was resigned to losing the chamber.

“Especially with the economic numbers that we saw on Friday, with 250,000 jobs added to the economy with wages over 3 percent for the first time in a decade,” she said, adding that that is a “great closing argument.”

“Remember, President Obama said, we’ll never get above 2 percent GDP. And now we’re at 3.5 percent GDP, over 4 percent in some cases.”

— Megan Keller contributed reporting.