From aisles to ballots: How Mass. grocery prices explain what’s at stake in the 2026 midterms
There's comparison shopping, and then there's comparison shopping .
In 2024, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other Bay State lawmakers called on regional grocery titan Stop & Shop to lower its prices.
The campaign came after a group of volunteers from the Hyde Square Task Force found that the chain charged shoppers at its Jamaica Plain store 18% more than it did at its outlet in Dedham, the lawmakers said.
The difference? Location, location, location.
The Jamaica Plain store mainly serves working-class and minority shoppers. The Dedham store serves shoppers in a wealthy Boston suburb that's hard against Interstates 93 and 95.
In August, Quincy-based Stop & Shop announced that it was lowering prices on thousands of items in its 88 eastern Massachusetts stores as part of a broader initiative it started last year .
"Massachusetts is our home, and bringing meaningful savings to millions of customers right in our backyard is an important milestone in our broader strategy," the company's president, Roger Wheeler, said in a statement.
"We know that value matters now more than ever, and this price investment - which is the largest one we've executed to date - is just one example of the work we're focused on to deliver a great experience for our customers in terms of value, high-quality products, and service in our stores," Wheeler said.
Still, the incident, powered by politics and colored by competitive pressures, stood out as a rare win for consumers in a year in which concerns about affordability dominated the headlines and became issue No. 1 in November's off-year elections.
Warren was joined in the push by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and U.S. Reps. Jim McGovern, D-2nd District, and Ayanna Pressley, D-7th District, both of whom have been active on hunger and food access issues during President Donald Trump's second term.
"It's a big deal that after we investigated Stop & Shop for price-hiking working-class families, the supermarket chain lowered prices in all their stores in Massachusetts," Warren said in a statement shared exclusively with MassLive.
"Especially while groceries are too expensive across the board, it's powerfully important that we were able to come together and push Stop & Shop to deliver some financial relief. This is good news, and it will make a real difference for communities across the Commonwealth," the Cambridge lawmaker said .
Pressley offered a similar sentiment, noting that "with hunger on the rise, Republicans ripping away essential food assistance, and folks in Massachusetts and beyond struggling to afford the essentials, this is a victory that will help bring down costs for our families."
Affordability was top of mind for American voters in 2025. The issue dominating mayoral races in Boston and New York City, as well as the fights for governors' offices in such key states as New Jersey and Virginia.
Trump, who ran on a promise to lower prices on key consumer items ranging from groceries to heating bills, has been scrambling to regain the higher ground on the issue — to mixed results .
The Republican president spent December trying to downplay the issue, claiming in a campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania that the issue was a Democratic hoax and that the economy is roaring on his watch.
By Christmas, Trump had pivoted again, telling Politico that he believes the 2026 midterms will be all about "pricing" as Democrats try to retake the GOP-controlled U.S. House and shave Republican margins in the U.S. Senate.
"I think it's going to be about the success of our country. It'll be about pricing," Trump told the online news outlet. "Because, you know, they gave us high pricing, and we're bringing it down. Energy's way down. Gasoline is way down."
The truth is slightly more complex.
Gas prices have indeed dropped during Trump's second term. But energy bills have risen by 13% since the Republican took office last January, ABC News reported .
In Massachusetts, where the debate over affordability has become a flashpoint, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who also faces the voters in 2026, has protested a natural gas price hike proposed by National Grid.
And while inflation has dipped from a 40-year high of 9.1% in 2022 to 2.7% in November , the consumer price index, which tracks increases in the cost of goods and services, has risen 26% over the last six years, CNBC reported .
That includes food eaten at home, which rose by 30% during the same time frame, according to a CNBC analysis. Food eaten away from home has soared by 35% at the same time.
The debate also comes as the Trump administration and its Republican allies on Capitol Hill slashed food assistance to the nation's neediest families as a part of the domestic policy mega-bill signed into law earlier this year.
Polling data backs up those fears — and the political risk for Republicans headed into 2026.
Nearly half of Americans (45%) believe their financial security is getting worse, according to a Harris poll released Monday .
Separate polling analysis by data journalist G. Elliott Morris points to problems for Republicans in every state, including those Trump carried in 2024.
Trump's overall approval rating was underwater in 39 states. And his inflation numbers were negative in 49 states, based on Morris' analysis of 2025 polling data.
And you can expect Democrats to keep the pressure on headed into the New Year and beyond.
"With hunger on the rise, Republicans ripping away essential food assistance, and folks in Massachusetts and beyond struggling to afford the essentials," McGovern said, in part, adding that he and his fellow Democrats will "keep pushing to lower the cost of living and confront the affordability crisis Trump created."
And right now, at least, voters are listening and making their voices heard at the polls.
Read more analysis from John L. Micek
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
