Army combat veteran Laurie Buckhout has made the economy central to her campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis, promising to make life more affordable for residents in the 1st Congressional District.
“The Biden-Harris-Davis agenda created devastating inflation rates and made the cost of living unaffordable in Eastern North Carolina,” her campaign website read in April. “Laurie will fight for working families who can’t afford another year of rising costs at the gas pump and grocery store.”
But months into President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, gas prices peaked at more than $4 a gallon in North Carolina—the highest in four years, according to data from GasBuddy. While fuel costs have since dropped in the state, they remain substantially higher than the nearly $3 per gallon when Trump took office.
As the war with Iran intensified, Buckhout’s campaign overhauled the issues section of her campaign website and removed the reference to gas prices. By the end of May, the “Fixing Our Broken Economy” section of her website shifted to “Turning Our Economy Around.”
The page now reads, “Families in Eastern North Carolina need a champion to fight for lower costs, better jobs, a stronger economy, and lower healthcare costs. For more than a century, Democrats have made empty promises and delivered nothing. Laurie will fight to cut taxes so hardworking families can get ahead.”
Stephen Gallagher, a spokesman for Buckhout’s campaign, said the Republican remains committed to lowering gas prices, and the website changes came as part of a comprehensive effort to update her messaging on the heels of her successful primary campaign.
“Laurie has been clear since day one that Eastern North Carolina families are getting squeezed on the cost of everything, and that absolutely includes what they pay at the pump,” Gallagher said in a statement. “We updated the site top to bottom after the primary, and lowering costs for working families is still front and center. Anyone with a brain knows that lowering the cost of living includes gas prices.”
