Bessent contended voters are “already feeling it at the gas pump,” before apportioning responsibility to Democratic governors for some of the economic pain, including Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY).

“What was the issue in New Jersey? Energy prices. Who did that? Gov. Murphy. What’s the problem in New York? Energy prices. Who does that? Gov. Hochul,” he said. “There are things we can control, and I think we will.”

During the impromptu press conference, Bessent told another reporter that Trump’s first step was to address inflation, as it had dramatically increased during former President Joe Biden‘s administration due to the pandemic and his policies. While Trump has historically not been as fiscally conservative as other Republican presidents, he has worked to decrease the deficit.

“We are working every day,” he said. “Gasoline prices are down, interest rates are down, and I believe we have a great economic story to tell.”

The treasury secretary also pointed to tax relief voters will feel when they submit their tax returns next year as another example.

“I am also the IRS commissioner, and what we are seeing, from the One Big, Beautiful Bill’s no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility of auto loans, is that working Americans are going to be getting very substantial refunds in the first quarter,” he said.

Bessent’s comments come as Trump and Republicans more generally grapple with this week’s elections, in which Democrats decisively won statewide races in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani becoming the next mayor of New York City, after running campaigns against the president and focusing on cost-of-living concerns.

The elections also coincided with the first anniversary of Trump’s own election win in 2024, with the president underscoring his economic achievements while conceding only that Republicans are having messaging problems regarding how they are emphasizing those accomplishments.

“We have the greatest economy right now, a lot of people don’t see that,” he said Wednesday during an appearance at the America Business Forum in Miami. “These are things you have to talk about. It doesn’t just happen. It’s wonderful to do them, but if people don’t talk about them, then you can do not so well in elections.”

Twelve months before next year’s elections, Democrats have an average four percentage point edge over Republicans in generic congressional ballot polling, according to RealClearPolitics. The same polling aggregator reports Trump’s average economic approval at a net negative 11 points and finds that a majority of respondents consider the country to be on the wrong track, with 38% of respondents indicating the ‘right direction’ and 57% indicating the ‘wrong track.’

Former White House chief political strategist Steve Bannon, who helped Trump win his 2016 campaign against then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, argued this week’s elections were “flashing red lights” before 2026.

“People need to feel that the economy is working for them,” Bannon told Politico. “The program is the right program. It just needs to be executed. And I think people need to feel that it’s being executed.”

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Vice President JD Vance agreed the administration ought to “focus on the home front,” asserting Trump “has done a lot that has already paid off in lower interest rates and lower inflation, but we inherited a disaster from Joe Biden and Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“We’re going to keep on working to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that’s the metric by which we’ll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond,” he wrote on social media.