Red, White and Who? The Inflation Election

Ryan Knutson (0:06)

It's around 3 p.m. on Thursday. A restaurant cook is frying up some pears, preparing for dinner.

SPEAKER_2 (0:16)

What are the pears for?

Pierce Singgih (0:18)

It goes on a new salad we're doing, it's arugula, pears, some chives, cherry vinaigrette salad, new salad, starts the day.

Ryan Knutson (0:28)

Michael Rusconi owns the restaurant. It's called Rusconi's American Kitchen.

Michael Rusconi (0:33)

You know, the concept was always to create a fine dining experience at a moderate price point, and I've been very successful doing that.

Ryan Knutson (0:41)

Michael says over the last several years, it's been a lot harder to run this restaurant. Things are just more expensive, from the cost of beef to labor to fuel.

He sat down with Eliza Collins, our political reporter based in Phoenix.

Michael Rusconi (0:56)

I think fuel prices hurt people. I know I'm affected because my deliveries have fuel surcharges on them that have increased.

Eliza Collins (1:05)

What does the increase look like?

Michael Rusconi (1:08)

$25.

Eliza Collins (1:09)

Per delivery?

Michael Rusconi (1:10)

Per delivery. Some are higher, some are lower. Some are $10.

But I see that a lot more than I used to.

Ryan Knutson (1:18)

Michael's restaurant is in North Phoenix, near Scottsdale. It's located in Arizona's first congressional district, home to one of the most competitive house races in the country.

It's one of the districts the Democrats think they can flip in their quest to win back the house. So you spent a few days with our producer, Pierce, talking to voters. What at a high level is your takeaway from how voters in this area of the country are feeling?

Eliza Collins (1:43)

They're feeling stressed about the economy. Almost every voter we talked to talked about the cost of gas and how high it was.

SPEAKER_6 (1:54)

Gas prices have gone up substantially.

SPEAKER_7 (1:56)

Well, I've lost my job and so now I'm retired involuntarily and it just costs more to fill up my truck as I go along.

Eliza Collins (2:07)

People talked about making choices at the grocery store.

SPEAKER_2 (2:11)

I get an Italian espresso and it used to be $12 a bag. It went up to $18 a bag.

SPEAKER_6 (2:20)

As far as groceries and the economy and everything else, everything has gone up and everybody is feeling it.

SPEAKER_8 (2:27)

I used to not pay attention to the price of groceries and then all of a sudden I looked at my receipt one day a couple years back and was like, OK, I'm going to start shopping with price in mind.

Eliza Collins (2:36)

People were certainly feeling economic hardship.

SPEAKER_8 (2:39)

I'm seeing a lot of inflation. That's why I have a second job because everything costs more.

Casey O'Neill (2:45)

Everything's more expensive. Electrical or power costs are rising. Water costs are rising. Food costs are rising.

Gosh, where do I stop?

Ryan Knutson (3:00)

From The Journal, this is Red, White and Who?, our series about the road to the midterms. I'm Ryan Knutson. It's Wednesday, October 14th.

Coming up on the show, the inflation election.

SPEAKER_10 (3:24)

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Donald Trump (4:00)

On day one of my new administration, we're going to throw out Bidenomics and we're going to replace it with Magnomics. Magnomics.

Ryan Knutson (4:09)

Back in 2024, then candidate Donald Trump made the economy the central focus of his campaign. His story of the economy was that Joe Biden broke it.

Donald Trump (4:20)

We're going to stop the Biden spending spree. We're going to halt his inflation death spiral. We're going to terminate his green news scam.

Ryan Knutson (4:27)

And the Kamala Harris would make it worse.

Donald Trump (4:30)

With four more years of Harris, your finances will never recover. They're never going to recover.

Eliza Collins (4:35)

Trump promised to fix it. And that was what people heard. That was definitely a winning strategy for him.

Ryan Knutson (4:42)

But after two years, the economy isn't going the way some voters thought.

Inflation has ticked back up. When Trump was elected, inflation was 2.6%.

Now it's at 3.4%. And economists say tariffs and the war in Iran have contributed to rising prices. All right, so Democrats need to flip at least three seats in order to win the House. Let's talk about one of those seats that's in play, AZ-1, where you went around and talked to voters. Where is it and why is it important to this year's midterms?