Democrat Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss attempted to list his party’s successes Thursday on “The Ingraham Angle,” before admitting there was more Democrats could address.
Democrats have continued to push back against President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts to address top voter concerns ahead of November. While discussing the party’s struggle to appease its base, Fox host Laura Ingraham asked Auchincloss if Democrats were “answering the concerns of the middle class who have begun to turn away from the Democrat standard bearers.”
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“Democrats have an opportunity to answer those concerns. Right now, in a Fox News poll, only a third of voters think that Donald Trump’s doing a good job on tariffs and inflation. Democrats have a chance to say ‘We are now the party of free enterprise, free trade with free people to build a strong middle class with lower costs, particularly in housing and health care,’”Auchincloss said.
“Here’s how we’re going to do it. We’re going to peel the bark off the health insurance corporations,”Auchincloss added. “We’re going to build 7 million units of housing. We are going to deliver every kid in this country.”
Struggling to unify behind a single leader or message ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats have seen polling drops in both party favorability and support for their congressional candidates. The party has also pushed back on voters’ previous top concern — handling illegal immigration — by suing the Trump administration, with some lawmakers taking taxpayer-funded trips to visit illegal migrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in El Salvador.
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Ingraham pushed back on Auchincloss.
“You had four years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And for part of that time, you had a Democrat Congress. You had all that time. Biden said it was going to be a new era for America. So what happened?” Ingraham asked.
“We accomplished a lot in that first term. We got infrastructure, we got chips and science, domestic semiconductor manufacturing. We got gun safety legislation that the Trump administration is now rolling back,” Auchincloss said. “We now, though, have to do more. We have to do more on the border. You’re right, Laura. Five million people crossing the border under Joe Biden without documentation was not acceptable.”
Ingraham, however, called out the high inflation under the Biden-Harris administration before questioning Auchincloss’ border estimate.
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“Did you say five million? Congressman, you’re obviously very smart. I’m not trying to patronize you. You’re very smart. And, you know, it’s not five million, right?” Ingraham asked.
Auchincloss restated that he believes five million crossed “without documentation,” adding that people didn’t have to estimate “the actual number.”
After four years under the Biden-Harris administration, an estimated 11 million border encounters occurred, with a peak daily average of 15,000 encounters. Since Trump’s crackdown on the border, there has been a 93% drop in daily border encounters and a 99.99% fall of migrant crossings, according to a White House 100-day fact sheet shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
