Panic in Raleigh

Republicans are calling the legislature back in session to remind voters of Trump’s gas and diesel price hikes.

As Republican chances in November continue to plummet, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall apparently have been besieged by panicked calls from GOP legislators screaming, “DO SOMETHING!” So they have.

Late on a rainy Saturday, Berger and Hall announced they are bringing legislators back to Raleigh to draw attention to how much Donald Trump has raised gas and diesel prices. They are going to fix the situation by stripping resources from some needed program to cut the gas tax. They are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The move might make them feel better, but it won’t distract voters from the damage Donald Trump and the Republican Party have done to the country. They might be able to get the tax down a bit, but prices will still be higher than they were a year ago. Gas is more than a dollar per gallon higher than when Trump took office. Diesel is up $3.00 per gallon.

A special session to address these prices won’t mitigate what’s going on nationally—and what’s most influencing the election. Trump is more worried about monuments to himself than the plight of average Americans. He seems disengaged from the war that’s driving up fuel prices and oblivious to the pain his erratic tariff policies are causing consumers. Republicans in Congress have done nothing to restrain his worst instincts and everything to enable them. What happens in Washington will drive this midterm, not some late action in a statehouse.

Democrats should make the return to Raleigh a reminder of why those prices went up. Donald Trump took us to war with Iran for no reason, and the Republicans in Congress refused to restrain him. Now fuel prices will be higher for the foreseeable future. Cutting taxes on gas and diesel for drivers will force cuts somewhere else in state government. It was all so avoidable, and Republicans did nothing to avoid it.

I don’t like Republicans coming back into session, because they will most likely cause other mischief. In November 2024, just after the election, Republicans called a special session claiming to address Hurricane Helene relief. Instead, they passed a bill stripping power from the governor and from council of state offices won by Democrats. This time, I worry they are going to try to interfere with an election they are about to lose.

Republicans face a bleak political landscape in North Carolina. The national Republican Party has largely abandoned GOP Senate nominee Michael Whatley, leaving the party with seriously diminished coverage in the final month of the election. A tweet shows that Democrats have out-registered Republicans by more than 6,000 voters in recent weeks. That number might not affect the vote totals, but it’s almost certainly an indication of voter motivation.

To top it off, Republicans have done very little to help North Carolinians in the last few years. They failed to pass a budget for almost three years, leaving teachers, state employees, and schools underfunded and underappreciated. Instead, they’ve focused on consolidating power, changing voting laws, and diminishing the authority of Democratic officials.

Now they are coming back to Raleigh to try to make things right. It won’t work. Any effort to relieve the pressure of gas and diesel prices will be too little, too late. That’s why I worry they will try to gain advantage through other, anti-democratic measures. Democrats’ best defense is to get out the vote and run up the score.