WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — The spike in gas prices is a national political calamity for the White House — but it’s also a local political challenge in every state of the union as Americans hit the road for the busiest travel season of the year.
While the Trump administration is focused on $5.02 — the per-gallon high-water mark hit under the Biden administration in 2022 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine snarled energy supplies — gas prices in many states are nearing or have already eclipsed that level.
Stumping in a Winston-Salem restaurant on Thursday, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wrapped the price at the pump into a larger affordability message on what he calls his “Make Stuff Cost Less” tour in his campaign for U.S. Senate.
“I think there are a lot of potential solutions” to rising costs, he said. “But I think that the war in Iran is affecting us most of all.”
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 her $70 instead of $50 — has her staying in more.
“I go home and to work,” she said. “That’s all I can take right now.”
The average pump price in every state ticked above $4 a gallon on Wednesday, according to American Automobile Association data, with the national average now at its highest mark this year at $4.56. The state of Washington has already set an all-time record, at $5.79, and several other Western states are approaching new peaks as the primary cause of the spikes — Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz — shows no sign of abating.
“With everything going on in the world, everything going on in the country, there is only one thing that Alaskans are talking about, and that is the prices that they are seeing in their communities as a consequence of higher fuel prices,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters on Tuesday. The average price of gasoline in her state was $5.27 a gallon on Thursday.
The fuel crisis is especially acute in rural Alaskan communities that are receiving their first fuel barges of the year, which locks in the high prices for months ahead, Murkowski said. “It’s a tough time for us right now.”
Trump has warned that active fighting in Iran could resume in the days ahead, and crude prices continue to flirt with the triple digits as U.S. oil inventories sink lower.
“This is peanuts,” the president said of high gas prices on Tuesday. “I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while — it won’t be much longer… What I think about is you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon and they won’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who is facing a difficult reelection campaign, said people in her district are “hurting” and looking to Washington for solutions to prices that have risen to $4.27 in her state.
“We’re not doing enough. We need to do more,” Miller-Meeks said on Thursday. “We know that this is temporary, but we need some more clarification from the White House on what they’re going to do.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have pounced on the elevated pump prices heading into the holiday weekend, arguing that the increase is hitting already economically stressed Americans in the travel budget.
“All the families that may have been in the position to save a little bit of money to maybe make this a weekend to celebrate families and remember loved ones, that saving has been squandered because of the high cost of fuel,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.).
In New York, where gasoline prices topped $4.60 a gallon, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul told POLITICO in a statement that residents were hurting because Trump had failed to bring down energy costs as he had promised.
“His war with Iran has driven gas prices so high that many New Yorkers won’t be able to afford to pack up the car and drive for the long weekend,” Hochul said.
Travel industry surveys show that most Americans are still planning to hit the roads this summer, but many plan to take fewer trips or are shortening their itineraries as high prices take their toll.
Fifty-six percent of Americans are planning to take a road trip over two hours, down from 69 percent last year, according to a GasBuddy report released Wednesday. Two-thirds of respondents said gas prices are directly impacting their driving plans and 36 percent said they would take fewer trips because of rising costs.
“Americans are going to pay billions more to get where they’re going this summer, and even after the Strait reopens, 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 the Memorial Day weekend, a record 45 million Americans plan to travel at least 50 miles from home, though the steady growth in travel over the three-day weekend seen in recent years has slowed, according to AAA.
A recent survey from the Bank of America Institute found that while 30 percent of respondents said higher gasoline prices won’t change their summer travel plans, others are taking steps like reducing the number of trips they’ll take or choosing a destination that’s closer to home.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said from the Senate floor Wednesday that Americans are canceling their Memorial Day trips and putting off barbecues because beef and propane are too expensive.
“Republicans ought to take note that among the states that have seen the greatest increase in gas prices since the war started are the battleground states of Ohio, Michigan, and Alaska,” Schumer said.
Former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown told POLITICO he is spotlighting the cost of gasoline in his campaign to unseat Sen. Jon Husted and return to the Senate.
“As I travel the state and talk with struggling Ohioans, it’s crystal 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 spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement that Trump remains committed to “fully unleashing American energy dominance, lowering costs, and putting more money back in the pockets of hardworking American families.”
“President Trump holds all the cards as he continues to exert maximum leverage over Iran with the ongoing successful blockade to bring this conflict to an end,” Rogers said. “Americans will then see gas prices plummet back to the multi-year lows Americans enjoyed prior to the start of Operation Epic Fury.”
Trump and GOP lawmakers regularly point to the all-time U.S. gasoline record hit during the Biden administration, whose green energy policies they blame for allowing prices to eclipse $5a gallon in June 2022.
“The only reason people know gas prices went up is because Republican policies brought them down,” said GOP Rep. Gabe Evans, who is facing a tough reelection battle in his Western Colorado district. “So while these prices may be status quo for Democrat energy policies, Republican policies brought them down.”
But analysts say it’s feasible the nation could surpass the dreaded $5 a gallon mark again this summer if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.
Bob McNally, a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush who now leads the consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group, said a new all-time high gasoline price was “increasingly likely” in the coming weeks.
While strong production and stockpiles have kept Americans relatively insulated from the supply shocks felt in Europe and Asia, recent government data has indicated that is changing, McNally said. Inventories of oil and gasoline fell for the sixth straight week and are below average for this time of year, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday.
“Politicians don’t like to see high and rising gasoline prices around Memorial Day,” McNally said. “They don’t like to see that any time, but especially the kickoff to the driving season.”
Josh Siegel, Carlos Anchondo, David Lim and Mona Zhang contributed to this report.
