Relative success for the state Republican party in a presidential election year came due to focus on two issues important to Bay State voters: the economy and immigration.

That’s according to MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale, who said that two subjects aren’t separate for many Massachusetts residents, and weren’t treated that way by the state’s conservative party.

“We really saw those two issues as interlinked. The immigration situation, particularly with the migrants here in Massachusetts, is affecting the economy. We’re spending over $1 billion — at the state level — every year, on migrants: housing them, feeding them, impacting our municipalities at the education and first responder level,” she told WBZ on Sunday.

Republicans gained ground in the state senate this November and held their own in the Legislature, and according to the MassGOP leader, it’s because their candidates weren’t afraid to be honest with voters about these two issues. And the voters showed they were onto something, she said.

“We saw it as a message to the administration — both at the federal level and the state level — that they need to rethink policies on migrants and the economy,” Carnevale said.

Massachusetts went for Vice President Kamala Harris, and voters sent U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren back to Washington D.C. for a third six-year term, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a tangible shift in the voting public, Carnevale said.

It’s not just an effect of President-elect Donald Trump’s appearance on the ballot either, she said, but proof that Republicans are speaking to voters’ concerns while the Democratic Party spends time focusing on partisan issues.

“I think there is a trend there. I think that many blue-color, working Americans and working residents of Massachusetts, are looking for a party that’s responsive to their needs,” she said.

A political party that is “paying attention to the economy” and “maybe a little more socially conservative than what we’re seeing in the policies offered on Beacon Hill” appeals to those voters, Carnevale said.

“Dramatic shifts toward the Republican Party” seen in Lawrence and Fall River, she said, also prove there is room for the party to grow in the state.

“We’re looking at building with some of our state representatives and looking ahead to 2026 and running candidates who are reaching out to those voters,” the Chairwoman said.

Republican Senate Candidate John Deaton didn’t come close to winning, but even at a 60 — 40 split he still came closer to unseating an incumbent statewide Democratic lawmaker than most conservative candidates have in recent years.

That result demonstrates the party’s ability to meet voters in the political middle, Carnevale said, and it’s something they’ll look to do in future elections.

“We can’t just be talking to our own base,” she said. “We need to reach out to independent voters and even some Democrats to win.”

In the two years that have passed since she took the reigns of the state party, Carnevale has overseen a small resurgence of Republican success. Conservatives now hold five of 40 State Senate seats, and have maintained their 25 of 160 seat split in the State House. When Carnevale took over leadership of the party in January of 2023, there were only three Republican senators and the party had just lost the Governor’s office.