Behind the granite countertops of Fuel City, a gas station in Dallas where taxidermy deer flank the entrance and hot tacos are served 24/7, Alina Cardenas sees first-hand that Texans are stretched thin.
Drivers are filling up less, she said, while ringing people up for cigarettes and beer, and fewer people are buying a full tank. Some stop once they’ve reached $10 or $20 worth of gasoline.
Cardenas, 19, who is studying radiology at a local college, said she’s been cutting back on gas herself by staying home more and driving only to go to work and school.
“It’s just getting really expensive,” she said. “Things got harder this year.”
In a state nearly three times the size of the UK, with hundreds of thousands of miles of road, driving is an essential part of life. Commuters can spend as much as six hours a day on the road going to and from their jobs. Over much of the past year, soaring energy costs brought on by the war in Iran has made it all the more expensive.
Higher gas prices are expected to play a major role in how Texas voters will decide a key battle in the upcoming midterms. James Talarico, a state representative, is trying to best Republican Ken Paxton, a former state attorney general, to become the state’s first Democratic senator in over 30 years.
Republicans across the country are fighting an uphill battle against widespread frustration, especially among independent voters, over the economy. Recent polling shows Talarico with a slight edge over Paxton, who has been embroiled in scandals.
On Tuesday, a week before election day, Donald Trump stood in front of an oil tanker docked in Corpus Christi, Texas to announce that the first million barrels of oil from his deal with Venezuela had arrived in the state.
“We’re celebrating the greatest oil victory in history,” Trump said at a rally for Paxton in Lubbock later that day.
At another rally in Georgia later in the week, Trump touted the “hundreds of billions of dollars” that higher gas prices are bringing to American gas companies. Two of the largest, Exxon and Chevron, are based in Texas.
“We’re making a frickin’ fortune,” he told the crowd.
But in Texas, voters seem unconvinced. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where bumper stickers declaring “my country, not your church” speed past billboards for gun shows, drivers who spoke to the Guardian expressed deep frustration over gas prices.
Cardenas said inflated gas prices has “probably made me go more Democrat” and that she will vote for Talarico.
Tom L, 40, who declined to give his last name, said he commutes nearly six hours each day to get to his job as a data analyst in Dallas. He spends about $400 a month on gas, double what he was spending a year ago. The diesel truck that he uses for farm work now costs him around $200 a week.
“I’ve definitely had to budget tighter to compensate,” he said.
He voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election, but said he is “not sure if that was the right decision” and is unsure which Senate candidate he will support as both have their benefits and flaws.
Because Texas is a top oil producer, its residents often enjoy cheaper gas prices than the rest of the US. But the state has not been immune to the rising cost of gas amid the war in Iran. On average, a gallon of gas now costs $3.68, compared to $2.59 a year ago, according to AAA.
Diesel, which fuels the big rigs and tanker trucks that transport Texan oil, has shot up by more than 80%, from $3.18 to $5.79.
“Texans are paying less than the national average, yes, but they are also paying a lot more than they were a year ago,” said Tom Seng, a professor of energy finances at Texas Christian University. “Texans are feeling the pain just like everyone else.”
Though gas prices are just part of a slate of costs that make up everyday expenses, they tend to be the most noticeable, especially in a state where residents heavily rely on their cars for transportation.
“People on Tuesday morning, before they go to the polls … they’re not opening up their electric utility bill. They probably aren’t grocery shopping that morning,” Seng said. “But what’s the last thing that they’re probably going to see before they get to the polling place? The price of gasoline.”
Kobe Montgomery, a security guard at Fuel City in Dallas, said he uses his car to get to his job in security and to deliver for UberEats and Domino’s on the side. He has no choice but to fill up his tank whenever he needs to.
“It beats walking,” he said.
But even though he hasn’t noticed the higher cost of gas, he doesn’t plan to vote at all in the upcoming midterms, out of fear for voting for the wrong person and regretting it.
Diamond M, who declined to give her last name, said spends at least three hours on the road to get to her job as a warehouse worker. Gas, she estimates, is taking up about 20% of her take-home pay. She only fills up her tank on Friday – pay day –and forces herself to make the tank stretch the whole week.
She plans to vote for Talarico, who she believes has the best shot of lowering costs for her.
“He has a voice,” she said. “Seems like he’ll get it done.”
