DEXTER, MI – High gas prices in Michigan will have a major impact on Vice President Kamala Harris this November as she emerges as the front-runner in a battleground state where the House, Senate and presidential races remain close.
At the time of publication, Average price of gasoline Gasoline prices in Michigan are $3.74 a gallon, 25 cents higher than the national average, according to the Automobile Club Group (AAA).
Michigan is a must-win state for Kamala Harris, and her record is tied to the Biden administration.
That’s bad news for Harris, because Biden’s actions to shut down the Keystone Pipeline and ban energy leasing on federal lands have helped send gasoline prices up by up to 50% nationwide since he took office.
There are other factors that influence rising gasoline prices.
“Gasoline prices are rising across the upper Midwest due to problems at a refinery in Joliet, Illinois, and increased demand for gasoline,” AAA spokeswoman Adrienne Woodland said.
Mike Rogers, a Republican candidate for the Michigan Senate who is endorsed by President Trump, took to Twitter to attack his opponent, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, linking her to Vice President Harris’ energy policies and gas prices of about $4 a gallon at the pump.
“I don’t know if I can survive $3.99 a gallon going forward. The Harris-Slotkin policy on gas prices is only going to make it worse,” Rogers said outside a Michigan gas station.
Republican House candidate Tom Barrett also tweeted about rising gas prices to slam his Democratic opponent, Curtis Hertel Jr., in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.
“My opponent @CurtisHertelJr supported a 45 cent gas tax increase. Washington cannot afford Hertel or Harris. Working families like mine are already paying enough in taxes under a Biden economy,” he tweeted.
The 45-cent gas tax increase Barrett was referring to was intended to fund road repairs in Michigan, but it failed to pass the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2019.
“Not only did Curtis Hertel support this bill, he introduced a budget that included a 45-cent tax increase,” Barrett said, criticizing her opponent, who was a Michigan senator at the time the bill was introduced.
Tom Barrett has also voted for gas tax increases in the past, but said the increases he supported were not as large as those proposed by Hertel.
“He’s going to attack me because I adjusted the gas tax 10 years ago when I was a state representative,” Barrett told The Post.
“I made some adjustments to our state’s gas tax to reflect the fact that the Legislature hadn’t adjusted it in about 20 years,” Barrett continued, defending her record.
A believer in the “drill, drill, drill” philosophy, Barrett believes the solution to rising gasoline prices is to tap America’s domestic oil reserves.
“The government shut down the pipeline, making it extremely difficult for new oil and gas drilling on federal lands to continue to thrive and produce abundant energy domestically, so gas prices continue to rise with downstream effects exacerbated by reduced refining capacity,” Barrett told The Post.
Michigan is a key battleground state for Harris to secure the 270 electoral votes, so if rising gas prices drive voters to the Republican Party, Harris’ “blue wall” strategy could fail.
In late May, while Biden was still on the campaign trail, economist Mark Zandi predicted that gas prices would decide the election winner..
“If domestic prices fall to $3 a gallon by Election Day, President Joe Biden should be re-elected,” Zandi predicted, but added a warning.
“But if gas prices rise above $4, former President Donald Trump should win.”
