Two Republican Senate Nominees Cite War, Fuel Prices and Tariffs as Drags

With less than four weeks until the November 3 midterm elections, two Republican Senate nominees in races their party once expected to win comfortably are pointing, in private and in public, to President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, high fuel prices and his tariffs as problems for their campaigns.

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton told donors and lobbyists at a closed-door fundraiser that his struggles were not about tariffs but about the war, gasoline and diesel, according to an audio recording obtained by Axios and later described by CNN, the Guardian and other outlets. According to the Guardian, Paxton said diesel above $6 a gallon was squeezing voters and called affordability the biggest problem facing Republicans this fall, and he said he did not make the decisions driving the race and did not always know what was behind them. CNN noted it had not independently verified the audio.

Diesel in Texas averaged about $5.72 a gallon this week, according to AAA figures cited by the National News Desk, while many other states were above $6.

Paxton’s campaign called the report a non-story, the Guardian reported. A spokeswoman, Madison Cercy, said Paxton had simply stated what Texans already know about prices at the pump and the grocery store, and that Trump was doing everything he could to bring costs down. She argued that Paxton’s Democratic opponent, state Representative James Talarico, would raise taxes.

Polls have shown Talarico with a small lead in a state Trump carried by more than 13 points in 2024. Trump was scheduled to rally with Paxton in San Antonio on Wednesday, his third trip to Texas in less than a month by CNN’s count, as Republicans pour money into defending the seat. The recording follows earlier audio, reported by Politico and the New York Times, in which Paxton complained that strategy was being set in Washington and that the party’s September convention had hurt his numbers.

In Michigan, former Representative Mike Rogers, whom Trump endorsed, released a 30-second advertisement that, according to CNN, declares that Canada is not Michigan’s enemy and that the tariff war must end. The ad does not name the president, but it plainly refers to the 50 percent tariffs he imposed on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods, according to CNN. Canada answered last month with tariffs of 15 to 50 percent on American products, the National News Desk reported, a heavy risk for an auto industry built on cross-border supply chains.

Rogers had earlier called the tariffs necessary but not a one-size-fits-all answer, and last month he said the Iran war needed to end quickly. He faces Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters. Asked about the ad, Trump told reporters he took it to mean that Canada should make a deal, Axios reported.

The administration’s case is that tariffs will rebuild American manufacturing and force better terms from trading partners, and that the confrontation with Iran is necessary for national security. The candidates’ remarks suggest that, at least for now, voters in two large states are feeling the costs first.