Republican Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson asked supporters to help provide “gas money” for her campaign bus this week, prompting Democratic opponent Josh Turek to seize on the remark as Iowa motorists and farmers contend with elevated fuel costs. Hinson made the request Wednesday during a campaign stop in Fort Dodge as part of her statewide bus tour. The exchange comes as fuel prices have become a prominent issue in the closing weeks of the Iowa Senate race.
AAA put Iowa's average price for regular gasoline at about $4.14 a gallon Saturday, up from about $2.72 a year earlier. Diesel averaged about $6.07 a gallon, compared with roughly $3.43 one year earlier. Nationally, AAA said this week that gasoline prices remained unusually high for the time of year while crude oil prices remained elevated.
The cost of fuel has already featured prominently in the contest between Hinson and Turek, in part because of their disagreement over the continuing war in Iran. During the candidates' final debate Tuesday, Turek argued that the conflict was contributing to higher gasoline, diesel and agricultural input costs in Iowa. He accused Hinson of having voted seven times to continue the conflict, a characterization tied to her votes against resolutions aimed at limiting President Donald Trump's ability to continue U.S. involvement in the war.
Hinson has defended those votes while also calling for the conflict to end. At the debate, she said she wanted an end to the war but argued the United States needed assurances that Iran would not develop a nuclear weapon. She said she trusted the American military to achieve that objective.
Both candidates also opposed Trump's move to ease sanctions affecting Russian diesel imports. She suggested temporarily lowering the gas tax, potentially creating a diesel rebate program for agricultural producers and expanding American biofuels as ways to reduce fuel costs. Turek similarly opposed relying on Russian diesel, saying lower prices should not come at the expense of benefiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Hinson has sought to establish her own position on rising fuel prices while distancing herself from some of the administration's energy policies. During her Fort Dodge appearance, she said there was “more to do to drive down the cost of gas and groceries.” She has also supported pausing fuel taxes and has said the Iran war needs to end. Turek, meanwhile, has proposed temporarily suspending federal and state gas taxes, suspending diesel exports and tapping strategic oil reserves.
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