Republicans Focus on Tax Cuts as Gas Prices Take Spotlight

As gas prices rose steadily, the Department of Homeland Security shutdown surpassed 50 days and President Donald Trump threatened significant escalation in the war against Iran, members of Congress by and large remained in their states over the spring recess. But in districts throughout the country, Republicans and Democrats were talking to their constituents differently about the agenda in Washington.

During the two-week district work period, most lawmakers locked in competitive midterm races did not host public town halls, opting instead for smaller business roundtables and constituent events. There, Republicans largely touted the benefits of their sweeping tax bill enacted last summer, while Democrats spotlighted the cost of living, blaming Trump for rising prices and attacking Republicans for backing his policies on the war in Iran and tariffs.

The break from Washington came as the Trump administration predicted that gas prices will continue to climb, amid uncertainty over the U.S.’s war with Iran. Even as the two countries began a rocky two-week ceasefire, the spiking cost of oil continued to impact the price of groceries and other essential items.

Republican Rep. Scott Perry, whose race in his Pennsylvania district is widely expected to be close, spoke at a rare public event Tuesday where he weighed in on increasing energy prices.

“Energy, just like everything else, the price goes up. But it’s gone up very much faster than everything else. And of course it affects everything,” Perry told reporters. “That’s what I wanted to talk to these folks about. Because who you elect is going to make a policy choice that is going to affect your affordability.”

Perry mostly focused on his opposition to clean energy subsidies during the event, which was hosted by Americans for Prosperity.

His comments came after his main Democratic opponent, local news anchor Janelle Stelson, hosted a campaign event Tuesday outside a local gas station to spotlight the rise in fuel prices. Stelson hammered Perry for his support of Trump and the war in Iran.

“The cost of living is crushing central Pennsylvania families and our congressman, Scott Perry, is making it worse,” Stelson said. “When you’re paying $4 or more to fill up your tank, you feel it. You feel it on the drive to work, you feel it when the school bus routes get cut and you have to drive the kids yourself.”

It wasn’t just Democratic challengers hammering Republicans over the cost of living. Democratic incumbents also attacked their opponents over their support for Trump, linking the president to rising costs.

Rep. Greg Landsman, another Democrat who is facing a tight reelection race in Ohio, also spent the break emphasizing the rising cost of living. Landsman touted money he helped secure for an affordable housing project and promoted a recent bill he co-sponsored to tackle the costs of data centers in his district.

“The Congressman packs his schedule when he is home with constituent meetings and campaign events,” Reggie Harris, Landsman’s chief of staff, told NOTUS. “He has around 25 events and meetings, including reading to elementary school children, tours of businesses in the district, small roundtables with constituents, and visits to affordable housing projects that were awarded community project funding grants.”

An aide to one Midwestern Democrat who is facing a serious Republican challenger, who declined to be named because they weren’t authorized to share details on the record, told NOTUS that the campaign planned to use the district work period to take the temperature on the cost of living for farmers. April is the beginning of planting season, a crucial time to measure voters’ struggles with the cost of fertilizer and diesel.

“If we had to boil it down to one thing – it is, life is becoming unaffordable,” the aide said of the campaign’s main message. “A lot of people felt like President Trump and Republicans campaigned on affordability and then have done nothing to address it.”

But most Republicans, including those in difficult races, focused on promoting the GOP’s hallmark achievement, the Working Families Tax Cuts bill. Sen. Jon Husted, who is locked in a tight reelection campaign with former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, traversed his home state of Ohio, also speaking to constituents about the sweeping tax bill. Husted met with small businesses alongside the state’s hospitality alliance to discuss popular provisions like “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime.”

“Senator Husted has many stops across the state planned, meeting with Ohioans, farmers, manufacturers, and small business owners. He is specifically working to highlight some of the benefits of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act as we close out tax season,” Joshua Eck, Husted’s deputy chief of staff, told NOTUS in a statement.

Republican House members in vulnerable districts spent the recess using the same playbook. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks – whose race the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan campaign analysis group, has deemed a “toss-up” – hosted a roundtable in her Iowa district alongside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to talk about the bill’s permanent estate tax cut and cuts for small businesses.

Miller-Meeks, who is a physician, also promoted a provision she helped secure in the reconciliation bill that helped finance Iowa’s rural hospitals, meeting with several facilities and hosting a health care roundtable.

Issues like the cost of living are likely to come to a head when Congress returns to Washington on Monday. Lawmakers are expected to consider rising gas prices and the Iran war while tackling must-pass legislation on national intelligence and ending the DHS shutdown.