House Republican defends GOP ahead of midterms: ‘We did our job’

Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter (R) defended the Republican Party’s strategy ahead of the midterm elections, as President Trump urges Americans to cast their vote as if he were “ on the ballot .”

CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned Carter on Tuesday about the effectiveness of the president’s message this election cycle, in which his party is fighting to maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

“I think he’s got the right strategy,” the GOP lawmaker said. “Look, we’ve got a record to run on. We changed America after the Biden-Harris administration, and we did our job.

“We secured the border, we made sure Americans are safer, we make sure we’ve got a robust economy,” he continued. “All of those things are things we need to be running on.”

Carter also addressed the public discontent around the Trump administration’s ongoing military operation in Iran — primarily rising energy and cost of living expenses tied to the conflict. A Marquette Law School Supreme Court poll from August found that 75 percent of respondents did not believe these military operations were “worth the cost.”

The average price of standard fuel was up by more than a dollar per gallon from a year ago Wednesday, according to AAA . In Georgia alone, the price of gas increased by just shy of a dollar in the same period.

The president has brushed aside concerns about the increased costs as a “very inexpensive price to pay” for the war.

Carter said there was “no question” that gas prices are “too high,” but he praised the U.S.’s ongoing military operation against Tehran.

“He is making this country safer by making sure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear bomb, by making sure they don’t have ballistic missiles that can reach our homeland,” the Georgia Republican said. “All of those things are vitally important — we have to keep that in mind.”

The lawmaker ran in the GOP primary in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, but he was defeated by Trump-backed Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.).

When asked about his expectations for the closely watched November match-up between Collins and incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), he said, “this race is still going to tighten up.”

“I think that this is going to get tighter as we get closer to Election Day,” Carter added.

Recent polling has shown Ossoff with a marked advantage in the race, leading by between 4 points and 11 points in recent surveys.