Reread that headline. Yes, Gavin Newsom and the Democrats are allowing gas prices to keep going up, up, and up, instead of giving relief to Californians who pay the highest gas prices in the country.
It didn’t have to be this way. But know this: nobody, not Gavin Newsom, Scott Wiener, or the unions that run the state, is coming to help. Indeed, they’re making things worse.
Newsom blames the Republicans for the current state of gas prices due to the Iran “excursion.” And there is a temporary spike in prices due to the disruption by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. But California prices have always been the highest in the country because of the Democrats. Indeed, the rest of the nation is now paying prices that Californians were paying before the IRGC began shooting at ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
In the name of GLOBAL WARMING!™ or CLIMATE CATASTROPHE!™, California Democrats have been phasing out California’s own local supply of oil for years, reducing the amount of cheaper, homegrown fuel in favor of foreign oil. As a result, the global warming religious adherents were forced to find needed oil from somewhere, and voilà, the last tanker from the Strait of Hormuz just came to town. It will take months to make an impact at the pump, and nobody knows when the next shipment is coming.
California Democrats’ choices in this one-party state have left the state at the top of the leaderboard for gas prices and gas taxes. Right now, Californians are paying over $6.00/gallon — still less than the highest historical price reached in 2023 under Joe Biden and his runaway inflation. Prices, however, are expected to reach $7.00/gallon soon — $9.00/gallon for diesel, according to one analyst this week.
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When the Iran “excursion” began, prices at California pumps were $4.64 a gallon. But the pain would have been a lot less had Democrats granted tax relief. And they have no regrets. Current Democrat candidates for California governor want to keep raising those high prices.
In the California gubernatorial debate, EVERY Democrat looked you in the eye and screamed NO to more offshore drilling, NO to American energy, and NO to lower gas prices!
While you’re getting CRUSHED at $6.15 a gallon—nearly TWO DOLLARS above the national average—these radicals… https://t.co/07FH5ZsyT6
— Steve Hilton For Governor (@TeamSteveHilton) May 15, 2026
One thing that has never changed, however, is California Democrats’ lust and greed for higher and higher gas taxes. The worshipers of the earth at the Church of Global Warming in the legislature passed a progressive and automatic gas tax that goes up when California prices go up. Talk about a self-licking ice cream cone.
Voters tried to repeal the 2017 law passed by the legislature and lost. The tax was first implemented in 2025. Since Newsom has been in office either as lieutenant governor or governor, he’s refused to reduce, speak against, or get rid of the tax. Instead, calls for a gas tax holiday have been dismissed by the possible presidential contender as a “gimmick,” likely because President Trump thought of it first.
The federal gas tax is 18 cents/gallon. Greedy California Democrats charge 61.2 cents per gallon in taxes; higher now because of the 1.6 cent/gallon California Price Index surcharge on taxpayers that went up last summer’s driving season. The state also throws in a Low Carbon Fuel Standard surcharge. Last summer, the “pass-through” cost added 20 cents a gallon to the price of gas. Gavin Newsom’s latest budget, unveiled a few days ago, assumes higher gas taxes in the coming months.
Talk about not reading the room.
Look for yourself how much the state has come to rely on foreign oil that must be shipped from across the world so that local politicians can look like they’re fighting “global” warming. See with your own eyes how California Democrats (and probably Arnold Schwarzenegger) reduced oil drilling and refinery capacity so much that most have fled the state.
Here’s a graph from California’s own energy commission showing in the starkest terms how the Democrats have traded homegrown oil for oil from the Middle East.
Plus, California sits on nearly two billion barrels of crude.
But now, when given a chance to temporarily reduce prices by more than 61 cents/gallon for everyday Californians, Newsom says, naw, I’m good.
Eat pastel, California.
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