Americans have been grappling with inflation running above 2 percent for five and a half years, with prices in September up 3.7 percent annually, according to the consumer price index (CPI).
Annual inflation is up from February, when it was 2.4 percent. On the last day of that month, the U.S. and Israel launched the war with Iran — which sparked a surge in fuel prices in the U.S., impacting drivers, truckers and farmers.
Here is where inflation stood in October of the last five midterm years, based on the CPI, and what happened in those elections.
2022: 7.7 percent
Inflation surged in 2021 and 2022, as an explosion in COVID-19 era government spending, supply chain shortages and the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring.
Democrats went into the 2022 midterms in control of both chambers of Congress. That November, Republicans narrowly snatched control of the House, but Democrats held on to control of the Senate.
2018: 2.5 percent
Inflation in October 2018 was exactly where it stood in January 2017, the month of President Trump’s first inauguration. Annual inflation sunk to 1.6 percent in June 2017 but rose above 2 percent by the end of that year.
In the first midterms after Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, Democrats won a net of 41 House seats to flip control of the lower chamber. The GOP, meanwhile, expanded its majority in the Senate by two seats.
2014: 1.7 percent
Inflation remained in the 1 percent to 2.1 percent range from May 2012 through December 2016, as the economy recovered from the aftereffects of the 2008 financial crisis.
In 2014, Republicans expanded their majority in the House by 13 seats and flipped the Senate. That gave the GOP control of Congress as former President Obama wound down his second term.
2010: 1.2 percent
Inflation dipped below into negative territory in 2009, as the economy slowly regained its footing after the crash.
While Democrats held on to the Senate despite Republicans gaining six seats that year, the GOP rode Tea Party momentum to a whopping 63-seat gain en route to House control.
2006: 1.3 percent
Inflation dipped from 2.1 percent in September 2006 to 1.3 percent that October.
But voters still punished Republicans and former President George W. Bush, as Democrats campaigned against the unpopular Iraq War to flip both chambers of Congress.
Source: The Hill