REUTERS: “Tom Barrett tapped into voter frustration over high gas prices… Now the Republican is on the defensive on that same issue”

• Average gas prices in Michigan are skyrocketing, “up 27% since the Iran war began.”
• Barrett “voted against a congressional ​resolution to limit Trump’s war powers” – twice.
• Voters across MI-07 “protest ⁠high fuel and fertilizer prices and call for an end to the war,” slamming Barrett for his votes in support of the war.
• A Michigan voter says “I do see a lot of people in my conservative neighborhood here who are very upset’ … as she filled her SUV at the ​same Quality Dairy gasoline station in Charlotte, Michigan where Barrett made his 2023 social media post.”

And Barrett couldn’t be more out-of-touch when it comes to how Michiganders are feeling about his war that is raising their prices at the pump.

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Tom Barrett promised to lower gas prices, but instead of getting costs down he keeps signing checks that he can’t cash for an endless war while everything keeps getting more expensive. Barrett has only been in D.C. one year and has already abandoned his constituents who can’t afford the higher prices at the pump because he’s too busy trying to spend money on another war.”

Reuters: Tables turn as Republicans face gas-price attacks they once used on Democrats

• Tom Barrett tapped into voter frustration over high gas prices as part of his successful 2024 run for Congress in Michigan. Now the Republican is on the defensive on that same issue as Democrats see an opportunity to flip his seat.
• “Gas in Michigan is four bucks a gallon,” Barrett said as he filmed himself filling up his tank ​at a gas station in August 2023. “When I’m elected to Congress, we’ll produce our own energy. We’ll get gas under control so that this will be a lot more affordable for families like yours and families like mine.”
• Nearly three years after he ‌posted that video to social media, average gas prices in Michigan are back near the same level, briefly topping $4 in early April before settling around $3.80 this week, up 27% since the Iran war began on February 28.
• The surge has put Republicans who campaigned against high fuel costs under Democratic President Joe Biden on the defensive heading into November’s midterm elections, with control of the House at stake and the Senate potentially in play.
• The vulnerability is especially acute for Barrett, who represents one of the country’s most competitive districts as a U.S. congressman and is already facing Democratic attacks on the issue.
• In an interview with Reuters, Barrett acknowledged that gasoline prices were squeezing his constituents’ finances but said the war was justified ​on national security grounds and expressed hope that prices would fall.
• The recent rise in gas prices has exacerbated Republicans’ woes heading into the election, with Americans already disgruntled by high food and property prices as well as healthcare costs.
• Gas was not the sole focus of Barrett’s 2024 campaign, but he repeatedly returned to the issue as part of ​a pledge to fight inflation under Biden. 
• In late July 2024, for example, Barrett posted photos on X of gas price signs from four different stations, all ​hovering around $4 a gallon.
• Now, Democrats see gas prices as a potent weapon in their effort to flip Barrett’s predominantly white district, which is centered on Lansing and stretches across farmland and small towns, and east toward the outer edge of the Detroit metro area.
• On April 13, local Democrats, farmers and activists gathered at a gas station ‌outside Lansing to protest ⁠high fuel and fertilizer prices and call for an end to the war. “Tom Barrett + Iran War and We Pay,” read the sign carried by one protester. “Got Gas Pains? Vote Democrat for Relief,” read another.
• Yet Barrett voted against a congressional ​resolution to limit Trump’s war powers and says he supports efforts ⁠to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, arguing that current high gas prices stem from a justified foreign-policy choice, unlike a Biden-era spike he blames on limits on domestic oil production.
• After a Reuters reporter mentioned interviewing a constituent who could afford to put only $14 of gas into her car, Barrett redirected the conversation to national security, repeatedly asking whether she had been questioned about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
• “Did you ask her if she thought Iran should develop a ​nuclear weapon?” Barrett asked.
• Reuters did not ask the constituent, Danielle Lewis, about Iran’s nuclear capabilities but discussed the war’s impact on gas prices.
• Democrat Christine Waugh‑Fleischmann, who spends up to $200 a week on gas for drives to see her grandchildren, said after discussions with Republican friends about inflation ⁠she believes the ​district can be flipped.
• “I do see a lot of people in my conservative neighborhood here who are very upset,” said the 70-year-old art teacher, as she filled her SUV at the ​same Quality Dairy gasoline station in Charlotte, Michigan where Barrett made his 2023 social media post.
• “It’s gas. It’s grocery prices, it’s healthcare costs.”