Home heating costs threaten to chill GOP vote in key Senate races

Democrats running for Senate in Maine, Alaska and New Hampshire are zeroing in on the rising cost of home heating as winter — and Election Day — quickly approach.

Republican candidates have been on defense in key Senate battlegrounds, arguing against the claim that the GOP has enabled President Trump’s war in Iran, which has inflated oil costs. The cost of residential heating oil went from an average of less than $4 per gallon before the war to more than $6 today. 

“There are a lot of people here who are stretched pretty thin, and home heating costs are an issue even during the best of times,” said Mark Brewer, the chair of the political science department at the University of Maine.

“So when we’re talking about a spike like this, it’s a huge issue,” he continued.

Democrats are narrowly favored to flip the Senate, according to Decision Desk HQ, as Republicans confront voter anger over high costs due to the Iran war. The Republicans running for Senate in Maine, New Hampshire and Alaska either declined to comment for this story or did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment.  

Democrats’ path to a Senate majority may run through Maine, a state where about half of homes use heating oil to stay warm. Democrat Troy Jackson has sought to assign blame to his opponent, Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine). 

“Unlike Susan Collins, Troy understands what it’s like to worry about the furnace shutting off in the middle of the night and in the U.S. Senate, he’ll fight to lower costs and end the war in Iran that’s only making it harder for Mainers to make ends meet,” campaign spokesperson Ella McFarlane told The Hill in a statement. 

The Collins campaign referred The Hill to a campaign webpage highlighting the senator’s opposition to the conflict........

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