Facing the possibility of a midterm blowout, struggling Republican candidates are increasingly putting Wall Street and corporate America in their crosshairs, betting a populist pivot will resonate better with anxious voters, according to Politico.
Wall Street and the business sector have long been the GOP's "most reliable allies," but with President Donald Trump's approval ratings dragging the party down, candidates are searching for a new message — and turning Wall Street into what Politico describes as a "punching bag."
In central Arkansas, House Financial Services Chair French Hill is airing ads touting his efforts to "keep Wall Street from buying up our neighborhoods." In Michigan, GOP Senate hopeful Mike Rogers is vowing to "take on Big pharma" companies that "are ripping American families off." And in northeast Iowa, an ad boosting Republican House candidate Joe Mitchell declares he "will be the only Republican refusing corporate PAC money" in Washington.
Sen. Josh Hawley, who has pushed his party toward a more populist lane, put it bluntly: "There should be a shifting relationship between Republicans and Wall Street for sure. I mean, what do those people do for America?"
The rhetoric signals "a major risk for financial services firms, health insurers and tech giants," which face growing peril of a legislative crackdown and could become a go-to target for Republican presidential hopefuls in 2028, Politico reported.
Rohit Kumar, a former top aide to ex-Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) now at consulting firm PwC, said the trend shows no sign of slowing.
"It's entirely foreseeable that two, three cycles from now, you have a very Trump-influenced Republican elected official class, and their willingness to engage in the sorts of activities that you would have traditionally thought would be the province mostly of House and Senate Democrats starts to become a little more commonplace," Kumar told Politico.
The shift comes as Trump himself has already started distancing from some of his own pro-business appeals heading into next year's vote.