House Democrats will remind voters in Republican-controlled congressional districts in the region to check the gas pump before they vote.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) launched a digital ad campaign in 44 targeted Districts in Play.
That will hit voters in four districts in Florida, represented by GOP U.S. Reps. Laurel Lee, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills and María Elvira Salazar. It also will hit two seats in North Carolina, now held by Republican U.S. Reps. Chuck Edwards and Greg Murphy, and one open in South Carolina. Virginia voters will also see the ad in districts represented by U.S. Reps. Ron Wittman, Jen Kiggans and John McGuire.
The simple six-second spot shows a gas meter hitting $71.45 for 12.113 gallons of gas, about $5.90 a gallon. It then jumps to an image of a sticker with a GOP logo and the phrase “D.C. Republicans did that!”
The campaign blames the rising price of gasoline on President Donald Trump’s policies, which have included recent military action against Iran, and a Republican-controlled Congress that won’t keep the administration in check.
“Another day, another broken promise from Trump and House Republicans,” said DCCC Communications Director Courtney Rice. “Now, when voters fill up at the pump, they’ll have yet another reminder that D.C. Republicans are squarely to blame for the price of gas, and everything else, being too damn high.”
What makes the ad unique is not what is running, but how it’s running. The ads will display on Meta platforms such Facebook and Instagram, targeting mobile phone users using their devices near gas stations in select districts.
The messaging dovetails with a theme of affordability hammered into DCCC campaigns throughout the Midterm Election cycle.
AAA fuel price reports show gas isn’t quite as expensive as the ad claims, at least at the moment, in most of the country. The national average on Tuesday, the day of the campaign launch, was about $3.98 a gallon, though in California the state average is $5.82 a gallon.
In Florida, the average price for a gallon for gas is $3.92. In North Carolina, gas on average is about $3.77 a gallon, while in South Carolina it is about $3.68. In Virginia, it runs about $3.88. Diesel prices are much higher in all states.
Economists expect the price of oil per gallon to remain volatile for a while, due to the ongoing conflict in Iran.
