As Republicans gather with President Donald Trump in Dallas this week in an effort to boost their sagging midterm elections prospects, their political challenges mounted with an ominous number flashing across financial terminals and news sites: $100.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, crossed that threshold Wednesday amid fresh fighting in Iran, dimming the GOP’s hopes that the high gas prices driving voter frustration would ease before ballots are cast.
The elevated oil price is certain to push up prices at the pump, which are already averaging more than $4 per gallon of regular gasoline nationwide, in this final stretch of the campaign.
Absent a major breakthrough in either the Middle East or in the war between Russia and Ukraine, which is exacting a heavy toll on energy infrastructure, analysts warn that drivers are unlikely to see relief before Election Day. In the Middle East, where Iran has been attacking tankers in the Strait of Hormuz since it was attacked by the U.S. and Israel early this year, hostilities are only intensifying, driving prices up.
While a peace deal with Iran or in Ukraine could bring prices down before the election, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the price-tracking platform GasBuddy, “the end of that runway is quickly approaching.”
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