CNN has nailed election night with soaring gas prices highlighted on its “magic wall” as the network announces midterm election returns.
President Donald Trump made a risky move by starting a war in Iran eight months before the midterms — and it may not have paid off. In response to strikes from the U.S. and Israel, Iran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, choking off the world’s oil supply and causing prices at the gas pump to skyrocket.
While news networks typically use interactive maps on election night to show live vote tallies, CNN also detailed which counties gas prices increased the most.
Brian Steinberg, a senior TV editor for Variety, shared a photo of a map in Kansas, lit up to show gas prices up 63 to 73 percent in multiple counties since February.
At the same time Tuesday night, Democrat Adam Hamilton was leading Republican incumbent Roger Marshall, 57.8 percent to 40.2 percent, according to CNN’s map.
The national average for a gallon of gas remains above $4, up about a dollar from a year ago, according to the AAA Motor Club. Democrats have used the unpopular war and the high gas prices it has brought to convince voters to flip Republican seats in the midterms with the hope of taking control of Congress.
Democrats are poised to win the majority in the House and have already received some big wins in the Senate, with Jon Ossoff keeping his seat in Georgia, Roy Cooper taking a seat in North Carolina and Annie Andrews taking a seat in South Carolina.
Trump campaigned hard for their Republican opponents, almost losing his voice while hosting near-daily rallies across the country.
At a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, last month, Trump admitted that Americans are “taking a hit” with high gas prices, but justified it by reiterating the claim that Iran posed an imminent threat with its nuclear weapons program.
“Short term, you’re taking a hit. It's not a big hit. I thought gasoline would go up much more,” the president said. “The nastiest, the meanest, the No. 1 state sponsor of terror is Iran, by far. And you had to make sure they didn’t have a nuclear weapon.”
As Democratic wins roll in, the Trump administration has shifted blame onto the Republicans on the ballot — after the president spent all of last month making the midterms about himself.
“President Trump was not on the ballot, and it’s proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot,” a White House official told multiple media outlets.
“Also, candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves,” the official said.
The official also warned against voters picking Democrats over gas prices that will change once the Iran war is over. The conflict has dragged on for eight months, while Trump continued to claim it was coming to an end soon.
“Also, anyone who voted Democrat today is going to have a serious case of buyer's remorse when gas prices come down quickly when the Iran conflict is solved, but they’re still stuck with a list of liberal extremist Democrats,” the official added.
“And a final note here: regardless of how today plays out, President Trump’s resolve to stop the Radical Left is only going to become stronger. Buckle up.”
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