WASHINGTON ― Republicans ran against the rising national debt in the 2010 midterm elections, and it worked. : WASHINGTON ― Republicans ran against the rising national debt in the 2010 midterm elections, and it worked. The party won big and regained control of the House of Representatives. And regardless of what actually motivated the voters who propelled the Republican takeover that year, the tea party-fueled GOP claimed a mandate to curb President Barack Obama’s public spending habits.