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This story was originally published by The 19th.

The rise in gas prices happened so quickly, single mom Luna Rosado has barely had time to adjust.

Rosado fills her tank twice a week to commute to her two health care jobs and shuttle her three kids to school, basketball and soccer practice.

This month, as costs have risen 30 percent after the start of war in Iran, she’s been paying about $40 more a week on gas. That’s $160 less a month for groceries and everything else they need. Rosado has since had to calculate and recalculate her budget, seeing where she can find the room to absorb the changes.

“It felt almost impossible in the beginning because I didn’t know how to approach the situation. Everything’s just getting more expensive,” said Rosado, who lives with her three kids, ages 11, 9 and 7, in Plainville, Connecticut. “I’m like, ‘I can’t keep up.’”

The impact of gas prices is so broad it could sway the midterm elections. After the United States and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, leading Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz and cut off a quarter of the world’s oil supply, single moms are one group that feels it all the more acutely as they balance rising costs on one income.

War on Iran Is Enriching Weapons Firms as It Tanks the Global Economy

Chastity Lord, the president and CEO of the Jeremiah Program, which works with low-income single mothers, hears stories like Rosado’s nearly daily, she said — the single mom and teacher who is crashing on a friend’s couch to save on gas, or the single moms who are gig workers cutting back their Uber or DoorDash driving hours.

As of this week, the average price of a regular, unleaded gallon of gas is just over $3.97 — more than $1 higher than what it was a month ago, according to AAA. In some states, like New Mexico, prices are up as much as 40 percent, according to a New York Times analysis of data from GasBuddy, a gas price finder app.

“Gas cuts through everything,” Lord said. As a single mom, “you’re already underwater, and it’s almost like the gas puts weights on your feet.”

More than 4 in 5 single parents are women, and the majority of those are Black women and Latinas. Their median income is also about $17,000 less than single fathers. And though single moms work at higher rates than married mothers, they are also more likely to be paying more to fuel their commute — and spending a larger share of their income at the pump.

The families spending the highest percentage of their income on gas — about 4.3 percent — are those earning $40,000 to $49,999 a year,........

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