President Donald Trump talked up his party’s prospects in the election battleground of North Carolina on Friday during a speech aimed at convincing Americans that his handling of the economy is sound.

Despite consumers’ glum holiday mood and sagging opinion polls, Trump took a victory lap highlighting rising stock prices, lower-than-expected inflation numbers and a deal to cut pharmaceutical costs.

“This achievement alone should win us the midterms,” Trump said of the drug deal. On inflation, Trump said: “I told you!”

In a meandering, 90-minute speech billed as an economic address that touched on his cognitive tests, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s intelligence and law enforcement allegedly rifling through his wife Melania’s undergarments, Trump did not discuss Friday’s release of thousands of heavily redacted documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump’s Agenda on the Line in Tough 2026 Elections

With prices increasing and unemployment up, Trump has his work cut out for him ahead of November’s midterm elections, which could spell trouble for him and his ruling Republicans. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed just 33% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump has handled the economy.

Trump again argued that the economy is poised for a surge due to his policies and that any problems people are experiencing are the fault of the Democrats. He made a similar case last week in competitive Pennsylvania and in a nationwide broadcast on Wednesday. On Friday, Trump vented that the networks airing that speech had failed to show White House charts illustrating his economic points.

He contends that he has lowered the price of gasoline, imposed tariffs that are generating billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury and attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment pledges by foreign governments.

Republicans worry, however, that economic woes could jeopardize their chances in the elections that will determine whether they will keep control of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the remaining two years of Trump’s term.

Democrats have argued that Trump himself has bungled the economy, the central issue that propelled him back to the White House last year.

Trump’s event took place in Rocky Mount. The city is represented by a Democrat in the House, Don Davis, who faces a tough re-election fight in 2026 after the boundaries of his congressional district were redrawn in a manner that is seen to favor Republicans.

North Carolina is also hosting one of the most competitive Senate races of 2026, to replace the retiring lawmaker Thom Tillis.

North Carolina is often considered a swing state because its statewide elections are closely contested between Democrats and Republicans, although Trump won the state in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

The North Carolina event was a stop on the way to Trump’s oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he plans to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Thursday’s Consumer Price Index report for November lent Trump some early holiday cheer. It showed that housing costs rose by the smallest margin in four years, while food costs rose by the least since February. Egg prices – a subject Trump raises regularly – fell for a second month, and by the most in 20 months.

But the report also showed that some other prices, such as for beef and electricity, soared.

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(Reporting by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Sergio Non and William Mallard)