New Data Shows Voters Rebuked Costly Executive Tariffs in Senate Elections

WASHINGTON, DC — Seven of the nine states with both Senate elections and the highest tariff cost-per-household elected Democrats this midterm cycle, according to new analysis released Thursday by Bryan Riley at National Taxpayers Union.

Democrats won Senate races in Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas– states that bore especially high costs of executive tariffs, according to new data uploaded November 4 to tariffs.org, which updates tariff cost data by state and per-household equivalent every quarter.

“Voters know tariffs increase prices, and on-again-off-again executive tariffs are especially harmful because of the uncertainty they create,” said Bryan Riley, director of the Free Trade Initiative.

“This election shows tariffs are not only costly to consumers, they are also politically costly. Candidates who ignored this reality and defended tariffs faced uphill battles against those who opposed them. Exit polls found that 66% of voters believed tariffs have hurt the national economy.”

Riley pointed to Michigan, the state most harmed by executive branch tariffs which imposed a total of $27 billion on imports to Michigan through September, the equivalent of $6,485 per household. The second-most affected state, Georgia, had a gross tariff cost equal to $5,525 per household.

Across the country, Democratic candidates won by putting Republicans on the defensive and forcing them to defend unpopular tariffs. Just before the election, a Morning Consult poll found 59% of Democratic voters want congressional approval of tariffs to be a top priority for Congress, higher than any other issue surveyed.

National Taxpayers Union is the only free-market organization for taxpayers that unites effective advocacy with useful research about how to limit taxes, spending, and regulation at every level and branch of government—state, federal, administrative, and judicial.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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