WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Gasoline averaged about $4.24 in Republican governed states and $4.53 in Democratic governed states, a gap of nearly 7%.
  • California, Washington, and Oregon impose climate programs that add costs to transportation fuels.
  • California climate programs added about 42 cents per gallon in January 2026, according to the state’s Energy Commission.
  • Democrats now criticize gasoline increases tied to the Iran war after previously promoting electric vehicles as their answer to expensive fuel.
  • Iran had enriched uranium to 60% purity before U.S. and Israeli strikes on its enrichment facilities.

Just in time for election season, climate activists have suddenly discovered that gasoline prices matter. Democrats are highlighting pump prices on cable news, in Congress, and across social media, but their outrage conveniently ends where their own climate agenda begins.

On October 5, the national average for regular gasoline stood near $4.37, according to AAA, following the most expensive September on record. Comparing state averages according to the governor’s party reveals an uncomfortable divide for Democrats.

Across the 26 states with Republican governors, regular gasoline averaged about $4.24 per gallon. The 24 states led by Democratic governors averaged $4.53, nearly 7% more, while diesel averaged about $6.15 in Republican governed states and $6.50 in Democratic governed states.

Those figures are unweighted averages of state prices, so they do not explain the entire difference. Refining constraints, geography, global crude prices, and other factors also affect what motorists ultimately pay.

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State policy still adds to the bill, particularly in California, Washington, and Oregon. All three states have placed transportation fuels under climate programs carrying costs that can reach drivers whenever they fill their tanks.

California’s cap and trade program and Low Carbon Fuel Standard added about 42 cents per gallon in January 2026, according to the state’s Energy Commission. Washington’s Climate Commitment Act requires covered fuel suppliers to purchase emissions allowances.

Oregon’s Climate Protection Program caps emissions from fossil fuels, including gasoline and diesel. These programs do not account for every cent charged at the pump, but Democratic officials deliberately made fossil fuels more expensive while pursuing their climate goals.

The early October figures put those choices in sharp relief. Regular gasoline averaged $6.38 per gallon in California, $5.48 in Washington, and $5.04 in Oregon, where climate mandates sit on top of ordinary fuel taxes.

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Those state leaders now face questions about the costs they chose to impose on motorists. Their current fury over gasoline prices tied to Iran contrasts sharply with their previous willingness to make drivers pay more in the name of climate policy.

The national average for regular gasoline reached a record $5.01 per gallon in June 2022. As prices climbed, Democratic leaders promoted electric vehicles as their preferred answer rather than offering relief to families unable to purchase a new car.

In November 2021, President Joe Biden said electric vehicle owners could save $800 to $1,000 in fuel costs that year. He had recently test-driven an electric Hummer priced above $112,000, hardly an option within reach for every struggling household.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Vice President Kamala Harris in March 2022 to promote electric transportation and the administration’s $5 billion charging network. That June, then Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan told a Senate hearing she had driven her electric vehicle from Michigan to Washington and passed gasoline stations whose prices no longer mattered to her.

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For families who could not afford a new electric vehicle, that message offered little relief. The administration presented electrification as its response to expensive gasoline, while ordinary drivers were expected to accept the price attached to climate policy.

Then came the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Iran-backed Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel and murdered about 1,200 people in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Iran’s nuclear ambitions also remain largely unchecked. Before the U.S. and Israeli strikes on its enrichment facilities, Tehran had enriched uranium to 60% purity, close to weapons-grade, and it has since refused international inspectors access to bombed sites.

Tehran has also failed to account fully for its stockpile, while the status of its enrichment capacity remains uncertain. The threat described is no longer a distant hypothetical centered on projected environmental changes.

The war with Iran has helped drive oil and gasoline prices higher, prompting climate Democrats to emphasize the burden on motorists. Yet those same Democrats continue defending policies that deliberately raise fuel costs to meet climate targets.

That contradiction leaves Democratic officials with an obvious question. They must explain why higher fuel prices imposed through climate mandates are acceptable, while higher costs connected to confronting a regime that arms terrorist proxies and refuses to account for highly enriched uranium are treated as intolerable.

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