Tiffany, Republicans Look Terrible on Gas Prices

Mobil station at 812 S. Layton Blvd. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Few things upset Republicans more than the price of gas.

That’s because they tend to drive bigger cars that need more gas. According to Strategic Vision, “consumers who self-identify as Republican buy eight pickup trucks for every one purchased by a self-identified Democrat. They also buy roughly twice as many of each class of SUVs [Sports Utility Vans] as their blue counterparts.”

It takes about twice as much gas to fill up a pickup (20-36 gallons) or SUV (18 to 24) versus a compact (12-14 gallons) or subcompact (9-12).

The difference gets even more dramatic when you compare the gas hogs to electric vehicles. Only 30% of America’s EV owners are Republican, while 54% are Democrat.

That helps explain why Wisconsin’s Republican lawmakers, over the more than two decades they controlled the state Legislature, have been so reluctant to increase the gas tax. It makes every trip to the gas pump even more expensive for big car owners. The result was the Legislature starved the state’s transportation fund, helping elect Democrat Tony Evers, with his simple slogan “Fix the damn roads!”

It also explains why Donald Trump ran on gas prices in his 2024 campaign, promising to lower the per-gallon cost to less than $2 within 12 to 18 months. Prices had spiked under Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022, soaring to more than $4 per gallon after the Russians invaded Ukraine. But the price had dropped to just over $3 per gallon in late 2024.

So what has Trump done in his first 16 months as president? He didn’t lower the price of gas, which stayed at about the same level he inherited. Then he started the Iran war, which has become a disaster. Gas prices are now above $4.50 in the U.S., and experts are predicting they will stay high at least until the November midterms — even if Trump somehow achieves a peace settlement that ends Iran’s stranglehold over oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has made statements claiming gas prices are declining, but it’s pretty hard to, ah, gaslight that issue. No product’s price is more prominently displayed. We all see the huge signs and talk about the price of gas.

Which leaves Tom Tiffany in a very bad place. In December 2025, two months after the Republican congressman announced his run for governor, he released this statement: “I’ve got some good news this week. Because of our work to unleash American energy, gas prices are now at their lowest levels in nearly five years and are continuing to trend downward. Here in Wisconsin, we are averaging under $2.60 a gallon.”

One month later Tiffany took a selfie in front of a Wisconsin gas station and told Wisconsinites that “2026 is on track to be the cheapest year for gas since 2020. Promises made, promises kept.”

Then came the Iran war. Tiffany has been endorsed for governor by Trump and can’t afford to anger him. He has fallen in line with most other Republicans, who have supported the war and opposed legislation to assert the authority of Congress over any declaration or continuation of the war. It has left him shrugging off the impact of gas prices on the economy and average families, saying the war has caused a “bit of a slump.” You can expect to see that repeated this fall in attack ads.

The state Democratic Party gave a taste of this in a recent statement blasting Tiffany: “Fuel prices in Wisconsin continue to rise and diesel prices have reached a new record high this week as a result of… Tom Tiffany’s rubber stamp of the illegal war in Iran. In late April, farmers saw a devastating spike in fertilizer costs as a major nitrogen-based fertilizer shot up to nearly $700 per ton. Meanwhile, school districts are spending tens of thousands more on fuel for buses, cutting into already-strained budgets and reducing spending on educational opportunities.”

Gas prices have also figured into a controversy affecting U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who preceded Tiffany as Wisconsin’s 7th District congressman.

Duffy and his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, have created a five-part reality series, “The Great American Road Trip,” which follows the couple as they travel across the country with their nine children. It is set to air on YouTube in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

It has erupted into a controversy covered by NBC, ABC, CNN, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Guardian and many other publications. Critics raised conflict-of-interest concerns: “Several of the show’s sponsors — including Boeing, Toyota, Shell, Royal Caribbean Group and United Airlines — are companies that Duffy’s department oversees and regulates,” NBC News reported.

“Questions also arose about how much time Duffy devoted to the project. In an interview, Duffy told Fox News that he spent seven months filming — a disclosure that prompted criticism about his commitment to official duties.”

Compared to the historically unprecedented level of financial corruption of Trump’s presidency, Duffy’s obvious conflict is small potatoes.

But the other attack leveled at Duffy is his cluelessness about gas prices.

“We’re encouraging everyone to go take a road trip to celebrate America’s 250th birthday,” Duffy says in a trailer for the show, which also features the family meeting with President Trump.

“The show has drawn criticism from those who call it tone-deaf” as average fuel prices have soared, NBC reported. “Some commenters on YouTube were blunt. One compared the trip to ‘going on a foodie tour during the Great Depression.’ Another wrote: ‘Americans are struggling to afford gas and groceries but these two reality TV and Fox News stars are treated to free trips with celebrity visits and a cruise. Read the room, Mark and Marie Antoinette.’”

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the project “brutally out of touch: a Trump Cabinet member making a documentary about himself while regular families can’t afford road trips anymore, because Trump and his war put gas prices through the roof,” he wrote on X.

In the standard style for the GOP these days, Sean Duffy offered no concession and attacked his attackers, declaring that the “radical, miserable left” hates the series because it is “too wholesome,” “too patriotic” and “too joyful.”

But as Duffy, Tiffany and all Republicans know and have used to their advantage, the cost of gas is a powerful issue because it’s so easy to understand and so quickly hurts your pocketbook. And they are clearly on the wrong side of the issue.