Where exactly is Tom Emmer buying his groceries? That’s the question Minnesotans had after his latest Fox Business appearance:
The Minnesota Republican appeared on Mornings with Fox Business Wednesday as the conversation turned toward problems Republicans face ahead of the midterms, including communities pushing back against sprawling AI data centers and Americans still feeling squeezed by groceries and housing.
Emmer acknowledged there was more work to do before offering an extraordinarily rosy description of supermarket prices.
“Eggs are at pre-pandemic prices. Beef is at less than $2 a pound for ground beef,” Emmer said.
That second number is nowhere close to the national average. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows all uncooked ground beef averaged $7.158 per pound in August 2026. One measure covering 100% ground beef averaged $6.923. Uncooked ground beef prices were also 7.2% higher than a year earlier.
Minnesota shoppers were not buying Emmer’s numbers
Back in Minnesota, people noticed. A r/Minnesota thread quickly filled with residents comparing Emmer’s claim with what they were actually seeing in stores.
One Grand Rapids commenter reported paying “$6.15 a lb,” while another said beef was running “$7.99/lb in Chanhassen MN,” part of Emmer’s own congressional district.
Another constituent put the obvious question directly: “Emmer, i live in your district! Where is this 2 dollar beef?”
The disbelief soon broadened beyond one dubious grocery statistic. Several commenters accused Emmer and Republicans generally of presenting an economic picture that did not resemble their everyday expenses.
“I simply cannot understand how Republicans are able to get away with saying things like ‘The prices are coming down!’ while the reality is a completely different story,” one user wrote.
Others mocked the gulf between Washington messaging and supermarket reality. One commenter reached for an Arrested Development reference: “How much does a banana cost anyway, $10?”
That is what makes Emmer’s answer more damaging than an ordinary mangled statistic. The original question was about precisely this problem: how Republicans reconcile a national political message with voters looking at their own grocery bills, housing costs and local development battles. Emmer’s answer effectively asked those voters to trust the message over the receipt.
For Minnesotans staring at beef prices three or four times higher than the figure he quoted, that was always going to be a tough sell.
