Democrats see gas prices as potent line of attack on campaign trail

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Janelle Stelson, a Democrat running to oust incumbent Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) in a district that stretches across the central part of the state, stood in front of a Mobil gas station, where the sign behind her read $4.24 for a gallon of regular unleaded and over $6 for diesel.

“Gas prices are not just a number on a sign,” Stelson said at a campaign event Monday as a trickle of drivers passed through to fill up behind her. “Cost of living is crushing central Pennsylvania families, and our congressman is just making it worse.”

Stelson, a former local television anchor who came close to booting Perry from his seat in 2024, is among Democrats all over the country seizing on the spike in gas prices triggered by the war in Iran. The cost of filling up a tank is adding to Democratic messaging about affordability, with voters already keenly concerned with the rising cost of living.

It’s quite the turn of events for Democrats: President Donald Trump and Republicans, including Perry, won over voters in 2024 by promising to bring prices down, zeroing in on concerns about inflation under President Joe Biden. Perry, a veteran who was first elected to Congress in 2012, ran ads in 2024 that knocked Biden over gas price increases and touted how he “fought” the president’s energy policy. And until recently, gas prices had been something Republicans regularly boasted about.

But the president’s decision to attack Iran disrupted global markets and sent oil prices climbing. The events of the past few weeks, and rising prices overall, have left voters like Phillip Fabres feeling “screwed” as he watched the numbers climb on his pump at a Sheetz a few short miles from Stelson’s event.

“The way I see it, no one is really concerned about John Q. Public anymore,” said Fabres, a 64-year-old who voted for Trump in 2024 and works in the area. “I did really good in Trump’s first term, but now I am screwed again. Most of my life … I’ve been screwed just like everyone else.”

Fabres said he was willing to give Trump some leeway on Iran, arguing that the threat the nation posed needed to be addressed. “Maybe we shouldn’t have started this thing,” he said, “but what would have happened if we didn’t?”

The rising prices have put unique pressure on Republicans, given that they are the party in control of Washington and won that power with campaigns focused on rising prices. Trump has argued that the “little glitch” of rising prices would be a short-term problem and necessary to ensure safety. But in a profanity-laden social media post Sunday, he threatened Iran with “Hell” if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the now-constricted shipping corridor affecting gas prices.

Democrats have since swooped in, focusing on prices in a way that boosted Republicans just a few years ago.

“He votes to hurt us, not help us, every time he gets a chance,” Stelson said of Perry in an interview, citing his support for the war and votes against extending health care subsidies. “Gas prices are something that touches us all. It affects everybody, no matter whether you’re doing it for work or for your pleasure or whatever.

“It costs a lot,” she added, “especially when you’re being squeezed everywhere else.”

Stelson must win a May primary to take on Perry, but she is considered the favorite in the race. The district that includes Harrisburg and York is one of the most competitive in the country, and, in 2024, Stelson came within 5,000 votes — or about 1 percentage point — of ousting Perry, the former head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Elsewhere, other Democratic campaigns are taking a similar approach. VoteVets, a left-leaning veterans’ group, is running an ad in Iowa for Joshua Turek, an Iowa state representative running for U.S. Senate, that mentions rising gas prices. A spokesperson for the group told The Washington Post that the ad campaign will be expanded this week, bringing total spending in the state for Turek to nearly $2.5 million in three weeks.

And Abdul El-Sayed, a liberal Democrat locked in a contentious Senate primary in Michigan, has been running ads about gas prices on gas pumps. “You know why gas is so expensive? Donald Trump’s $200 billion war with Iran,” El-Sayed says in the ad.

This shift in campaign messaging has been dramatic. In his State of the Union earlier this year, Trump bragged about what drivers were paying at the pump, claiming that prices were “below $2.30 a gallon in most states.” Weeks later, however, the average price per gallon has risen to well over $4, and most economists expect gas prices to keep rising if the conflict with Iran continues.

“If there’s not a ceasefire deal soon, I would almost think that the increases could continue unabated,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “I don’t see any real improvement in the gas prices until the strait reopens.”

Perry, in an interview with The Post, argued that the price increases are transitory and defended his support for the war in Iran as necessary to prevent the nation from developing a nuclear weapon. But Perry, a strident Trump supporter, acknowledged the impact of fuel costs on his constituents.

“Look, I don’t like the high gas prices,” said Perry, noting that he often drives to and from his district and Washington. “I am not at all immune to high prices and being frustrated by them.”

When pressed on his support for the conflict, given the rising prices, Perry added, “But I can’t stop Iran from being a terrorist nation and threatening all of us.” And the Republican congressman argued that his possible Democratic opponent in November was only using the prices as a “political cudgel.”

“Even I would agree that gas prices are too high,” he said. “But is Janelle Stelson going to change that? No.”

Stelson said that, if elected, she would push to end the war to address gas prices and Trump’s tariffs on international trade to bring prices down on other items. When asked for other moves she would make, the Democrat took a long pause and said she didn’t “know yet what that would be.”

“I look forward to learning a lot more about how we could make that happen,” she said.

Democratic and Republican operatives said gas prices play a singular role in the debate over affordability. While prices of eggs, milk and other commodities may rise, they aren’t posted in large characters on tall, lighted signs on many street corners in the U.S., representing what Doug Heye, a longtime Republican operative, said was a “psychological” test for how voters feel about the economy.

“You cannot avoid them,” Heye said. “And it compounds what was already a really bad issue” for Republicans.

J.J. Abbott, a Democratic strategist in Pennsylvania, said the opportunity for Democrats is that Republicans “all ran on this key thing that they were going to lower them.”

“These guys were very specific to voters,” Abbott said. “And that is the exact opposite of what’s happened.”

Voters at gas stations in central Pennsylvania expressed frustration with rising prices, with some arguing that exasperation would make them less likely to vote at all in November. Many expressed feeling squeezed financially by the overall rising prices. Some said they have altered their daily routines to avoid using more gas.

“I just tried to return something at a store that I hadn’t bought it from because I was closer to another location,” said Pamela Seetoo, 55, who filled up her car at the station where Stelson was campaigning Monday after visiting a local Sephora. “I didn’t want to drive two extra miles.”

Seetoo voted for former vice president Kamala Harris in 2024 and said she wasn’t surprised Trump didn’t keep his promise on prices. “He promised a lot of things,” she said.

Stephen Glass, a 74-year-old retiree who lives in Harrisburg, called the conflict in Iran a “war of choice” as he filled up his car shortly after Stelson spoke.

“Everyone is starting to feel the economic crunch,” said Glass, who also voted for Harris. “I am looking at $4.24 right here. … To me, it is outrageous. It is unnecessary.”

After the fuel pump clicked, Glass looked at his total.

“I only got $30,” he said. “That’s all I could afford.”