Sarah McCammon / Tamara Keith / Domenico Montanaro (primary hosts; multi-voice label primarily Sarah McCammon)

And what might it sound like going forward?

Oh, they're going to do their best to keep capitalizing on it because it is something that they agree on.

They are trying out a bunch of different messages.

Those elections a couple of weeks ago were

sort of a test case for some of the messaging.

Democrats are in particular focused on health care costs, which was a big theme of the government shutdown.

And now Republicans are talking about it, too, and trying to come up with a plan, which they haven't been able to come up with in like eight years to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Grocery costs.

Democrats are also very focused on energy costs.

You heard Marjorie Taylor Greene talk about power bills.

Power bills have gone up.

electric bills, gas bills.

Democrats are trying to hang that on President Trump by saying that his opposition to green energy is actively working to make things more expensive for people.

They're going to ride this message all the way to November.

If costs and affordability are still something that is front of mind for a lot of people, then the party in charge, and that's the Republicans right now, are going to get the majority of the blame on it, most likely.

That's what Democrats are

are certainly banking on.

It certainly would help them in these off-year elections.

I think you can be guaranteed that affordability and health care, by the way, which is an issue that Democrats helped elevate during the shutdown, are going to be two things that they certainly ride all the way to November.

And we're back.