Washington D.C — Today, the Washington Post reported how Pennsylvania Republicans who promised to lower costs are now being forced to defend a voting record of increasing costs for working families. According to the Washington Post, following the renewed Iran War, oil prices jumped up and made Pennsylvania’s average gas price jump from $3.79 to $3.97 per gallon in just one week. After promising to make life more affordable, congressional Republicans Rob Bresnahan (PA-08) and Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) instead backed President Trump’s agenda and the unpopular Iran War as Pennsylvanians face higher costs at the pump and continued pressure on household budgets.
“Pennsylvania Republicans, like Congressman Rob Bresnahan, promised to lower prices. Instead, they are backing a war that is sending gas prices higher and making it even harder for families to make ends meet,” said Unrig Our Economy Campaign Director Leor Tal. “Congressmen Rob Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie are backing the very policies that are pushing costs in the wrong direction. Pennsylvanians want their leaders to fight to lower costs, not support an agenda that cuts pushes prices higher.”
Read the Washington Post story here.
Key Points:
- Before defeating a House incumbent in the 2024 election, Republican Rob Bresnahan accused Democrats of “gaslighting” voters by arguing that grocery prices were not surging.
- Now Bresnahan is seeking reelection in his Pennsylvania swing district and running ads acknowledging that grocery prices are still too high. “Grocery receipts are getting shorter, but the price keeps going up,” Bresnahan says to the camera.
- Trump on Monday reposted coverage of his June visit to Pennsylvania, where he promised consumers that costs were coming down and they were far better off than they were two years ago.
- The president did not acknowledge that the latest report reflected a drop in energy prices that occurred after a mid-June agreement extended a tentative ceasefire with Iran. The report does not reflect the spike in energy prices since fighting resumed in Iran in recent days.
- The average price for a gallon of gas in Pennsylvania hit $3.97 on Tuesday, up from $3.79 a week ago. Renewed fighting and Trump’s announcement Monday that he would reimpose a blockade on Iranian shipping raised Brent crude futures, a key benchmark for energy prices, by nearly 6 percent over the last five days.
- Voters continue to face higher inflation than they did when President Joe Biden left office in January 2025, when the consumer price index was 3 percent. And strategists expect higher prices will continue to be top of mind for voters as they head to the polls later this year.
- Government data released shortly after Bresnahan’s tweet found prices, particularly for food, rose between November and December in 2025, higher than they were at the same time in 2024. The trend has continued into 2026, when the same government data found inflation climbed at its fastest rate in nearly four years, in part because of the war with Iran. Trump said last week that the ceasefire with Iran is now over, and conflict has reignited around the Strait of Hormuz, a development that is likely to drive prices higher.
- “They were not subtle about this in 2024. There were these signs all over Pennsylvania that said Trump, low prices; Kamala, high prices,” recalled J.J. Abbott, a Democratic strategist in Pennsylvania. “So they have created for themselves this permission structure to have to own all the prices for themselves.”
To learn more about the campaign, visit UnrigOurEconomy.com or contact press@unrigoureconomy.com
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About Unrig Our Economy
Unrig Our Economy is a national campaign to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people. We know that when the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding corporations, their wealthy executives, and the politicians who enable them accountable.