As we approach the 2026 midterm election the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran are counting on their most potent weapon – world oil markets – to hand them the victory over America they could never win on the battlefield.
The Iranians recognize that oil prices fluctuate based on real economic events, and that voters naturally punish or reward the political party in power based on what they pay at the pump. They long-ago figured out that pump prices are a significant factor influencing voters. Research has even shown that gasoline prices have an “outsized effect” on inflation expectations and consumer sentiment. As fuel prices go up, confidence in the economy goes down.
Around 50% of the pump price is the cost of crude oil, the price of which is set by international markets. So, the Ayatollahs continue to do everything they can to drive up the price of oil, despite the dire impact the continuing war and accompanying American blockade is having on their own economy and people.
Despite producing enough oil domestically to cover its consumption, the US continues to trade its oil around the world. Back in 2015, Congress voted to lift restrictions on US crude oil exports that had been in place for four decades, allowing US companies to sell their oil to the highest international bidder.
ABC News reported U.S. benchmark crude on the day the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas opened stood at around $96 a barrel, and U.S. gasoline prices rose sharply overnight.
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked up 7 cents overnight to hit $4.22, now more than a dollar above what it cost at this point last year, according to AAA.
Diesel prices, which can have an outsize impact on consumers because it is used in shipping and production, hit an all-time high Friday and have continued to climb since. The average price per gallon rose to $5.94 overnight, up 9 cents from Friday. Jet fuel has become so expensive that U.S. and international carriers have cut flights while raising fares and fees.
Indeed, as Emilie Rutledge observed in a post to The Conversation, oil price spikes caused by political crises in other oil producing regions illustrate how continued dependence on oil itself, whether domestically produced or imported, leaves the US exposed to global market shocks which could in turn influence electoral outcomes.
And they have ready allies in the Democratic Party and of course among the Muslim members of the Red-Green Axis of Marxists and Muslims supporting the Democrats.
Democrats now show signs of eroding what has traditionally been a Republican advantage with voters on the economy. Gas prices have risen by more than 25% since the Iran war began in February.
Iran International reported Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders sharpened the argument by contrasting federal spending on the war and tax cuts with the cost pressures facing households.
“$900 million for White House vanity projects? Approved. $1 trillion tax cut for the 1%? Approved. $1 trillion for war with Iran? Approved,” Sanders wrote.
“Lower grocery, housing or gas prices? Sorry, you're on your own. Money for billionaires. Money for war. Nothing for working people.”
One the Democratic Party’s longtime Radical Leftists, Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, sought to connect the war with Trump’s broader economic agenda, including tariffs and tax policy.
“Trump promised to lower prices on day one,” McGovern wrote. “Instead, his billionaires-first economic policies, stupid tariffs & illegal war with Iran are pushing prices to record highs.”
“His policy choices are making your life more expensive while the ultra-rich do better than ever before,” he added.
Democrat Rep. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois recently pointed to the latest increase in gasoline prices, saying the national average had reached a record for this point in the year.
“The national gas average just hit a historic high for this time of year—more than $4 a gallon,” she wrote on X. “Families in Central Illinois are paying the price of the war in Iran every single time they pull up to the pump.”
Far Left Democrat Rep. Andrea Salinas of Oregon said American farmers spent $1.4 billion more on diesel during the spring planting season than a year earlier, blaming the increase on the conflict.
“With Trump’s ILLEGAL war pushing fuel prices higher and higher, growers are the ones paying the price,” she wrote.
The attacks come as polling suggests the economy is becoming an increasingly difficult issue for Trump and Republicans in the run-up to the November 3 midterms.
For his part, President Trump has acknowledged the threat to Republican prospects in the midterms, telling reporters in an impromptu presser before traveling to Dallas for the midterm Republican convention, that he believes Iran will finally relent after the pivotal elections are held in the U.S.
“They’re desperate to try and affect the election, so that we can get a nice weak group of people in there, and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon,” Trump said. He added, “I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump said.
And the President vowed to stay the course, saying “It doesn’t matter. And I’m not affected by the election,” he told reporters. “I’m not running. But my party is running, and I’m going to help my party. But I think my party respects the fact that we’re not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
President Trump is right, through their war on oil the Islamic Republic of Iran is desperately trying to throw the midterms to the Democrats, whom they know, based on the wins they got from Obama and Biden, will quickly cave to them and allow them to control the Strait of Hormuz and reestablish their nuclear weapons program.
We conservative must not allow that to happen. We urge all CHQ readers and friends to share this important information widely. Forward this message to your family, friends, neighbors, church and civic club mailing lists and tell them a win for Democrats is a win for the Ayatollahs. It is up to us to remind our fellow Americans that a win for Democrats in the midterms is a win for the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Ayatollahs who run it.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry formerly a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
