Candidates pitch housing affordability fixes as a midterm gambit

Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, launched a seven-figure ad buy in August titled “Builders,” a 30-second video calling out housing’s affordability crisis and an essential part of its solution. The ad features Rogers standing in front of construction workers on a job site, where he vowed to train the next generation of skilled trade workers by putting a shop class in every high school. “I know how to lower housing costs. Let’s train more workers and fire more bureaucrats,” Rogers said in the ad. Rogers’ message to voters reflects housing affordability’s rare vote-getter preeminence as a pivotal issue in this year’s midterm races, now counting down to just over three weeks. Although the cost of gas and groceries may grab more of the headlines, housing – and its intensifying affordability challenges – has shot up in the ranks of voter concerns. A July CNBC poll, for example, found that the high cost of housing stood as the 4th-most important issue in the 2026 election cycle overall and the top concern among voters under 35. On the campaign trail, candidates in tightly contested races for the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, highlight hous...