The Democrats' new talking point, since Trump took office during his second term, has been "affordability." I wish they cared about affordability during Biden's presidency, too, but we all know they made all the excuses in the book to defend him and pretend he was accomplishing so much for the American people.
In California, where Democrats have a supermajority and have had that majority for the past 16 years, we are now seeing ads on television from Democrat gubernatorial candidates Tom Steyer and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) about making the state more affordable. So either they're mischaracterising the state, or Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has been lying about what great shape California is in due to his policies.
Another Democrat running for governor, San Jose mayor Matt Mahan, who is far more reasonable than any other person in a leadership role in his party in the state of California, has now joined Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton to try to convince the legislature to suspend the egregious gas tax.
The Iran war has increased gas prices by around 50c.
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) March 11, 2026
Gavin Newsom and the Democrats increased California gas prices by around $2.00.
Gavin Newsom is FOUR TIMES more destructive than the Iran war.
His pathetic attempt to shift blame for his own policies is laughable. https://t.co/2o9edG469U
Politicians talk all day about making California more affordable. At tonight’s debate, I’m challenging them to suspend the gas tax so working people aren’t paying for a war they have nothing to do with. pic.twitter.com/C6HilkdQiN
— Mayor Matt Mahan (@MattMahanSJ) March 13, 2026
The overwhelming majority of Democrat politicians only know how to get in front of the cameras and whine about prices being too high and blame Trump for it. Yet, when Biden was president, and we had a 40-year record-high inflation, they were all either in hiding or defending Biden's policies.
If the Democrats actually cared about lowering costs and making life "more affordable," they could start by suspending the gas tax, at the very least, to give the residents some type of relief for a change. But they won't because they will use the gas tax as cover, claiming the revenue is needed to fix the broken roads. Well, reality check: For several years, California has had the highest gas tax, yet the roads only seem to get worse, and the potholes increase after each instance of rainy weather.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass gets absolutely obliterated on live TV during a pothole filling photo op.
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) February 20, 2026
She attempts to brag about paving 60 miles of Los Angeles streets, when the reporter informs her there are 22,000 miles to pave in Los Angeles.
For those keeping track at home… pic.twitter.com/lVhXIaUL5f
ALSO SEE: Chevron Fires Off Blistering Letter to Newsom Warning Proposed Climate Policy Will Decimate CA
With the amount of taxes the California government collects, the residents should be living in a utopia. Instead, they have to deal with the high cost of gas, the high cost of electricity, even the high cost of vehicle registration, and, of course, the high cost of housing because the Democrats failed on their promise to build more homes.
California desperately needs checks and balances in the state legislature, and electing another Democrat is not going to help with that. But if a Democrat is going to win in 2026, it should be Mahan. If it's Swalwell or Steyer against Hilton, which it looks like, as of now, is shaping up to be the case, Hilton must go hard at them and not hold back. He needs to make sure the California voters understand who Steyer actually is and not what he pretends to be in his ads, and he needs to expose Swalwell's record in Congress, which he has little to nothing to show for after being a representative for the past 13 years.
A local broadcast in Los Angeles, KTLA, had a brutal reality for Newsom and Democrats about their favorite talking point: affordability.
I hope you’re sitting down, but it is backbreakingly expensive to live in Gavin Newsom‘s California unless you have two or three jobs. pic.twitter.com/mCKbzwXIXW
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) February 24, 2026
The most unaffordable states to live in, according to the KTLA report: Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California. The common denominator? All run by Democrats.
Voting blue in the 2026 midterms will not make a dent in terms of affordability, but all we will hear from the Democrat candidates is how unaffordable everything is. Maybe to address that crisis, they should start by looking in their own backyard.
