Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump broke his promises on costs and “America First.” She said congressional Republicans have not held him accountable and urged voters to plan to vote one week before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. She posted the message at 11:37 a.m. on Oct. 27.
The Full Post
Trump broke his promises to lower costs and put America First, and congressional Republicans have done nothing to hold him accountable.
In one week, we will flip the Senate BLUE and rein in Trump’s costly chaos.
Make a plan to vote and join us!
The post makes four distinct claims. It says Trump broke his promise to lower costs. It says he broke his “America First” promise. It says congressional Republicans have done nothing to hold him accountable. It also pledges that Democrats will flip the Senate and “rein in” his agenda. Each is covered below.
The Promise on Costs
Trump said in August 2024 that “when I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” The Joint Economic Committee’s Democratic minority notes that he also pledged repeatedly to “end inflation.” Gillibrand’s argument rests on the gap between those pledges and the current price data.
Gillibrand made this charge at the start of the year. In a Jan. 20 statement marking one year of the second Trump administration, she said Trump and Republicans had “spiked prices, slashed access to health care” and gutted food programs. She added that voters would hold Republicans accountable “at the ballot box.”
Her Feb. 24 statement ahead of the State of the Union said Trump “promised to lower costs on day one, but instead, he has delivered chaos, uncertainty, and unaffordability.” She cited housing, groceries, electricity and health care.
On Aug. 27 she responded to a JEC report finding that the average New York household had paid more than $5,000 extra for goods and services since Trump took office. Her statement said Trump and Republicans “promised to lower costs and end inflation.” The figures included $1,078 more on housing, $521 more on gas, and a rise of more than 50 percent in average Affordable Care Act premiums in 2026.
The committee’s latest update, through Oct. 14, estimates Americans have spent $101 billion more on gasoline since the Iran war began. That works out to an average of $856 per family. Trump said in a March interview, “I don’t have any concern about it,” when asked about rising gas prices, adding “if they rise, they rise.” On Sept. 9 he said prices would take “a little bit longer than the midterm” to fall.
“Put America First” and the Iran War
Gillibrand sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, and she ties the “America First” charge directly to the Iran war. Her June 15 statement called it a “war of choice” that “has cost American lives, wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, and driven up the price of food and gas.” She said it “delivered on not one of his promises. Not one.”
“Done Nothing to Hold Him Accountable”
The same June 15 statement blamed “the compliant GOP majority that enables him” for turning its back on struggling Americans. It said voters “will hold them accountable in November.”
The congressional record is more mixed than the post suggests. Senate war powers resolutions failed in April, with most Republicans voting no. The House has since passed such a measure three times. The latest vote, on Sept. 15, passed 220-204 with seven Republicans joining Democrats. The administration maintains that war powers resolutions are unconstitutional and has dismissed those passed by both chambers.
“Flip the Senate”
Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, and Democrats need a net gain of four seats for outright control. A 50-50 tie would leave Republicans in charge through Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote. In a Sept. 22 interview, Gillibrand said Trump’s low approval and the Iran war reminded her of 2006, when Democrats went from 45 to 51 Senate seats. The National Republican Senatorial Committee held a fundraising edge of $176 million to $163 million as of August.
On July 26, 100 days from Election Day, Gillibrand said Democrats were “well-positioned to win the majority, with multiple paths to get there.” She said Republican candidates were on defense for their support of Trump’s agenda.
A September Reuters/Ipsos poll put Trump’s approval at 32 percent, an all-time low in that survey. Early voting has been under way for weeks ahead of Nov. 3.