If You Want to Blame a Governor, Look West to Gavin Newsom
Nevada’s attorney general is happy to point fingers at the White House. He’s a lot quieter about California’s fuel rules and his own record on the issue.
Aaron Ford wasted no time when NBC News reported on Friday that diesel hit a record $6.05 to $6.06 a gallon nationally.
Within hours he was blaming Trump’s war with Iran, accusing Gov. Joe Lombardo of being a “human doormat” who wants to spend “YOUR taxpayer dollars” funding it, and demanding a governor who will “stand up” to the prices.
It was great if you like pure political theater talking points, but it was pure BS if you like, you know, actual facts.
What’s Actually Driving Diesel Prices
Nobody disputes the Iran war matters here. It’s the biggest single factor behind this year’s spike.
The Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil, has seen traffic collapse for months under tanker attacks and a near blockade.
That’s tightened the global market for diesel and pushed crude above $100 a barrel.
But that’s only part of the picture.
Diesel prices never fully recovered from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in 2022, and Ukrainian drone strikes have been hammering Russian refineries ever since.
Russia responded by banning diesel exports in July and extending that ban through the end of September, pulling one of the world’s biggest diesel suppliers off the market.
China has restricted its own fuel exports too.
And U.S. diesel inventories are running well below the five-year average heading into fall, which is already a high-demand season for farmers bringing in harvest and homeowners filling heating oil tanks.
Put it together and you get a global supply squeeze with several moving parts, not a single war that Lombardo could end with a press release.
Governor Don’t Set World Oil Prices
Here’s the big problem with Ford’s argument:
No Nevada governor, Democrat or Republican, controls the Strait of Hormuz, Russian export policy, or congressional war funding. Those are federal and global levers.
Lombardo has been saying for months that inflation and fuel costs are largely driven by national and global forces, while state government’s job is to control what it can – like taxes, regulations, and business costs.
It’s also worth noting Lombardo hasn’t been an uncritical cheerleader for the war.
Back in May, he said publicly he wasn’t as supportive of how long the conflict was dragging on and wanted it resolved sooner rather than later.
Nevada’s Real Fuel Problem Has a California Address
If Ford genuinely wants to talk about why Nevada drivers are paying more, there’s a much closer target than Tehran.
Nevada imports a large share of its gasoline from California, and California’s refinery regulations and shrinking refining capacity under Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom get blamed for driving up prices across the border.
As of this week, Nevada’s regular gas average sat around $5.07 a gallon against a national average of $4.31. And Nevada diesel was running about $6.49 versus the national $6.16.
California itself was even higher, at nearly $6 for regular and over $8 for diesel.
Lombardo’s campaign has pointed out that when Ford had the chance as attorney general to challenge California’s fuel mandates, the ones that ripple straight into Nevada’s pump prices, he didn’t.
Nevada even has a quirky 1997 law that automatically raises the state gas tax if the federal gas tax gets cut, so even a Trump-backed federal tax holiday wouldn’t necessarily save Nevada drivers a dime.
“Your Taxpayer Dollars” Is a Reach
War funding comes out of federal appropriations, not the Nevada state budget.
A governor can praise or criticize a president’s spending bill, but he has no authority to redirect Nevada tax dollars toward or away from military spending overseas.
So Ford’s claim that Lombardo is spending “your taxpayer dollars” to fund the war stretches a political association into something it isn’t.
But Ford doesn’t care.
“Affordability” is the talking point Democrats are running on this cycle regardless of the technical division of powers, since voters feel the price at the pump no matter who’s actually responsible.
But that doesn’t change the fact that a Nevada governor cannot lower world diesel prices by criticizing Washington louder.
Nevada voters deserve campaigns that explain what a governor’s office can and can’t actually fix.
If you’re tired of blame games dressed up as policy, ask candidates directly what state-level tools they’d use on fuel costs, not what federal villain they’d rather talk about.
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