DALLAS — Nearing 200 days since the start of the Iran war, and with the November elections roughly 50 days away, Republicans are betting culture-war politics can drown out economic pain over the war’s impact on gas prices.
The November elections are high-stakes for Republicans, who hold both chambers of Congress and the executive branch. Global oil prices passed $100 a barrel on Wednesday, and gas in the United States has ballooned to an average of $4.30 per gallon.
Republicans had been hoping for a quick end to the war before the elections so that the price of gas could recover, but Trump dashed those hopes during the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas, once again pushing back an expected end date to the war.
“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”
With no end to the war in sight, Republicans are centering their pitch on fighting socialism and progressive ideology.
Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) told attendees in Dallas that on the GOP side is “common sense,” and on the Democratic side is “communist crazy.”
“They want to defund the police,” McClain said. “They want to open the borders and let illegals flood in. They want to take money out of your paychecks to pay for all of the fraud, waste, and abuse. You know what, Joe? That’s communist crazy, if you ask me.”
Republican nominee Eric Flores, who is running to oust Rep. Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D-TX) in the 34th District, said that what south Texas is focused on is that “Washington, D.C., isn’t telling the family unit how to raise their children,” referring to gender surgeries, gender identity, and religion.
“That’s not south Texas,” Flores asserted. “That’s what they’re focused on. That’s what is near and dear to our heart. Yes, the gas prices are very important. You know, housing is very important, right? But at the end of the day, you know, gas prices is not a, you know, principal conviction of somebody who is faith-driven.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) similarly conceded that high gas prices are a serious political concern in an interview with the Washington Examiner, calling them a burden for “every hardworking family” and that the spike is “directly related to Iran and the conflict.”
But Johnson insisted that Republicans and President Donald Trump are “working” to bring costs down, and that he believes there is a “light at the end of this tunnel on gas prices.”
“I am heartened,” Johnson said. “I believe the president understands the necessity of fixing that. He’s working on it every day. We have diplomatic channels working as we speak on that, and I believe that our allied nations are going to step forward and do more of that necessary work there to make sure the trader remains open for commerce.”
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), headlining the Democratic response to the RNC convention, rebutted Republicans’ efforts to center the election on culture war issues, saying that he would always “be a part of a party and organization that fights for people that need champions and make sure that there’s fairness, right?”
“I’m not going to shy away from that,” Crow said. “And you know, the Republicans, because they have no ideas, because they don’t really stand for anything anymore, they’re not even the party of fiscal conservatism. You know, nearly a third of our national debt has been incurred under the Trump presidency at this point; all they can do is attack, and they talk about things that the vast majority of Americans are not going to be provided relief for in their struggles.”
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Mike LiPetri, the GOP nominee in New York’s 3rd District who is running to unseat Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY), told the Washington Examiner that Republicans are “giving the voters a choice to choose common sense over chaos.”
“We’re giving the voters a choice of focusing the future of America or turning to socialism,” he continued. “We’re making sure the voters know the truth about our solutions, our ideas, and the chaos and destruction that Democrats waged on us for the past four years under Democrat leadership.”