Dems, GOP set inflation, COVID mandates as election themes

Senate Democrats and Republicans each want to flash election-year signals that they’re helping families struggling with rising costs and the two-year-old pandemic

WASHINGTON -- Democrats and Republicans each want to flash election-year signals that they are riding to the rescue of families struggling with rising costs and the 2-year-old coronavirus pandemic.

Not surprisingly, the parties differ over how to do that. And in comments and votes in the Senate last week, each side fleshed out themes it will use to compete for voters in this fall's voting for control of Congress.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talked about inflation, bashing President Joe Biden and Democrats for policies like curbing drilling on federal lands that he said were stifling domestic energy production and driving up gasoline prices. But he also raised culture war issues that have flared in the nation’s schools, including mask mandates and social justice instruction that conservatives find objectionable.

Republicans “are standing up for science, for common sense and for the children’s best interests,” McConnell said. “The party of parents has your back,” he added, a remark that conjured angry mothers and fathers at school board meetings that the GOP hopes to harness.