WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina – Rising gas prices are a national political crisis for the White House – but they’re also a local political challenge in every state in the union as Americans hit the road for the busiest travel season of the year.
While the Trump administration isit targeted $5.02– the water-per-gallon cap was hit under the Biden administration in 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stretched energy supplies – gas prices in many states are approaching or have already crossed that mark.
At a Winston-Salem restaurant on Thursday, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper made pump prices a big message of affordability for what he calls his “Make Stuff Cost Less” tour of his campaign for the US Senate.
“I think there are many possible solutions” to rising costs, he said. “But I think the Iran war affects us the most.”
Outside, waiting for the restaurant to open, LeTrice Stephens, a 44-year-old certified nursing assistant, said the price of gas — a full tank now costs $70 instead of $50 — is making him stay longer.
“I go home and work,” he said. “That’s all I can take right now.”
The average pump price in every state marked more than $4 a gallon on Wednesday, according to data from the American Motor Corporation, and the national average is now at its highest mark this year at $4.56. Washington state has already set an all-time record, at $5.79, and several other Western nations are nearing new highs as the main reason for those highs – Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz – shows no sign of abating.
“With everything that’s going on in the world, everything that’s going on in the country, there’s only one thing that Alaskans are talking about, and that’s the prices that they’re seeing in their communities as a result of high oil prices,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters Tuesday. The average price of gasoline in his state was $5.27 a gallon on Thursday.
The oil crisis is especially acute in rural Alaskan communities that are receiving their first oil tankers this year, which will keep prices high for months to come, Murkowski said. “It’s a tough time for us right now.”
Trump has warned that violent clashes in Iran could resume in the coming days, and crude prices continue to slide by triple digits as US oil inventories dwindle.
“These are nuts,” the president said of Tuesday’s high gas prices. “I would appreciate it if everyone would just hold on for a little while – it won’t take long … What I think is that you can’t allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon and it won’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who is facing a tough re-election campaign, said people in her district are “hurting” and looking to Washington to find a solution to prices that have risen to $4.27 in her state.
“We’re not doing enough. We need to do more,” Miller-Meeks said Thursday. “We know this is temporary, but we need more clarity from the White House on what they are going to do.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have railed against the increased pump prices heading into the holiday weekend, saying the increases are hitting Americans who are already financially strapped for the transportation budget.
“All the families that might be in a position to save a little money maybe do this weekend to celebrate family and remember loved ones, those savings have been lost because of the high cost of fuel,” Senator Ben Ray Luján (DN.M.) said.
In New York, where gasoline prices topped $4.60 a gallon, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul told POLITICO in a statement that residents are hurting because Trump has failed to lower energy costs as promised.
“His war with Iran has caused gas prices to be so high that many New Yorkers will not be able to afford to pick up a car and drive for a long weekend,” Hochul said.
Travel industry surveys show that many Americans still plan to hit the road this summer, but many are planning to take fewer trips or shorten their itineraries as higher prices take a toll.
Fifty-six percent of Americans plan to take a two-hour road trip, down from 69 percent last year, according to GasBuddy Report released on Wednesday. Two-thirds of respondents said gas prices directly affect their driving plans and 36 percent said they would take fewer trips because of rising costs.
“Americans will pay billions more to get to their destinations this summer, and even after the Straits reopen, it could take a year or more for prices to fully recover,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement.
For Memorial Day weekend, a record 45 million Americans plan to travel at least 50 miles from home, although the rapid growth in travel over the three-day weekend seen in recent years has slowed, according to AAA.
Arecent research fromThe Bank of America Institute found that while 30 percent of respondents said higher gasoline prices would not change their summer travel plans, others are taking steps such as reducing the number of trips they take or choosing a destination closer to home.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said from the Senate floor Wednesday that Americans are canceling their Memorial Day trips and postponing barbecues because beef and propane are so expensive.
“Republicans should note that among the states that have seen the largest increases in gas prices since the war began are the battleground states of Ohio, Michigan, and Alaska,” Schumer said.
Former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown told POLITICO that he is focusing on the cost of gasoline in his campaign to unseat Sen. Jon Husted and return to the Senate.
“As I travel the state and talk to struggling Ohioans, it’s clear they want a leader who will stop this endless war in the Middle East and take action to lower gas and diesel prices,” Brown said in a statement.
White House spokesman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that Trump remains committed to “maintaining full control of America’s energy, reducing costs, and putting more money back into the pockets of hard-working American families.”
“President Trump is holding all the cards as he continues to use his maximum power against Iran and the continued sanctions to end this conflict,” Rogers said. “Americans will see gas prices drop to multi-year lows that Americans enjoyed before the start of Operation Epic Fury.”
Trump and GOP lawmakers frequently point to the all-time high for US gasoline during the Biden administration, whose green energy policies they blame for allowing prices to exceed $5a in June 2022.
“The only reason people know gas prices went up is because Republican policies failed them,” said GOP Rep. Gabe Evans, who is facing a tough re-election battle in his Western Colorado district. “So while these prices may be the case with Democrat energy policies, Republican policies let them down.”
But analysts say it’s possible the nation could exceed the dreaded $5 a gallon again this summer if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.
Bob McNally, a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush who now heads the consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group, said new higher gasoline prices are “possible” in the coming weeks.
While high production and stockpiles have largely insulated Americans from the supply shock being felt in Europe and Asia, recent government data has shown that is changing, McNally said. Oil and gasoline inventories fell for a sixth straight week and are below average for this time of year, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday.
“Politicians don’t like to see high and rising gasoline prices around Memorial Day,” McNally said. “They don’t like to see that anytime, but especially at the start of the driving season.”
Josh Siegel, Carlos Anchondo, David Lim and Mona Zhang contributed to this report.
