DAVID MARCUS: On the ground in Middle America, four issues will decide the senate, and none are affordability

For nearly a year now, the assumption from the chattering classes has been that the 2026 midterm election will be decided on the issue of affordability, but on the ground, in the mid-American states that will decide control of the senate, it is local issues that dominate, not the vague, overarching question of prices.

Part of the problem with nationalizing the affordability issue is that it originated in New York City with the campaign of current socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani.

But Gotham is a unique case that is always very expensive.

The last time Manhattan was affordable was when the Dutch bought it from the Indians.

In the middle of the country, including Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, and Texas, all of which this column has visited in the past month, the economy is a major issue, as polls indicate, but it is not the same existential crisis that it was for voters we spoke with in 2022 or 2024.

DAVID MARCUS: IN SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ONLY TRUMP CAN MEND MAGA-CHAMBER OF COMMERCE RIFT I met Reggie at a restaurant in Springfield, Ohio.

He’s recently married, reading self-help books, and in construction, he told Fox News Digital, "There’s work, wages are good, that’s not an issue, prices are prices, and gas has gone down with the tax holiday." Reggie was referring to Ohio’s decision to temporarily suspend gas tax, resulting in a price under four dollars in the Buckeye State.

DAVID MARCUS: IN DAYTON, OHIO, BOTH PARTIES FACE BITTER POLITICAL DESPONDENCY In fact, in no state this column visited did it seem as if cost of living was the prime driver of the electorate.

So what is it? Let’s take it state by state.

The cleanest and clearest way to know what issue is driving any community of voters is when they bring something up before you do, and in Minnesota, almost everyone I spoke with brought up fraud with no coaxing.

DAVID MARCUS: PEGGY FLANAGAN'S DEI RECORD AND FRAUD SCANDAL PUT MINNESOTA SENATE RACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT Over the past year, the scope and scale of fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community has come to shocking light and it is something that Democratic Lt.

Gov. and Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan cannot escape, and that her GOP challenger, Michelle Tafoya is rightfully milking like a top-prize heifer at the Minnesota state fair.

This is a race that almost nobody expected to be competitive just a few months ago, but that is because pundits were reading the national mood, not the mood in Minnesota, which can only be found on the ground, and which is very angry.

Dayton, Ohio is full of absolutely lovely people, many of whom I spoke with, and I wish I could say kinder things about it, but it is an all but a dead city.