U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Monday, August 31, 2026, seized on newly confirmed data showing that the national average price of gasoline stayed above $4 per gallon every single day in August, a first in U.S. history, using the milestone to renew her demand that President Donald Trump end the ongoing war with Iran. Duckworth’s post came as fresh U.S. military action against Iranian targets sent oil prices climbing and stocks falling to close out the month, underscoring how directly the six-month-old conflict has continued to reshape household costs for American drivers.
The Post in Full
Duckworth published her statement on X at 5:40 PM on August 31, 2026. The post read, in its entirety:
“For the first time in history, the national average price of gas for the month of August has been above $4 per gallon every single day.
If it feels like it’s been the most expensive August at the pump, that’s because it is.
End. The. War.”
A Direct Reply to Reporting on Fresh Strikes and Rising Oil Prices
Duckworth’s post was published in direct reply to an Associated Press report detailing how Wall Street closed out August on a downbeat note after the United States launched fresh military action against Iranian sites in the Strait of Hormuz. According to that report, U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers along the strait, while the United Arab Emirates said separately that it had intercepted an Iranian drone over its waters the same day. The report noted that the strikes followed more than a month of relative lull in the conflict, and that the renewed activity helped push Brent crude up 2.7% to settle at $90.49 per barrel on Monday.
AAA Data Confirms the Historic Streak
The claim at the center of Duckworth’s post traces to data published by AAA on August 27, which found that the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $4.0997 that day, down only a cent from the previous week. AAA reported that, for the first time ever, the national average in August had remained above $4 per gallon on every single day of the month, a run the organization said was on track to make August 2026 the most expensive August at the pump on record, surpassing the previous record set in August 2022. AAA attributed the sustained high prices to continued volatility in the Strait of Hormuz, which kept crude oil prices in the $80-per-barrel range even as demand for gasoline rose from 8.68 million barrels per day to 9.04 million barrels per day over the preceding week.
Six Months Into Operation Epic Fury
The war Duckworth referenced began on February 28, 2026, when the United States, under the operation name Epic Fury, launched joint strikes with Israel against Iranian nuclear and military targets. In the six months since, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has maintained a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that under normal conditions carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments. The disruption sent gas prices climbing from an average of $2.98 per gallon the day before the war began to a peak of $4.56 per gallon on May 21, before prices settled into the sustained above-$4 range that defined August.
Inflation and Interest Rate Pressure Mount
The AP report that prompted Duckworth’s post also detailed the broader economic consequences of the sustained high energy prices, including their effect on inflation and Federal Reserve policy. U.S. inflation has remained well above 3%, more than a point above the Fed’s 2% target, and Wall Street is pricing in a 66% probability that the central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate at its next meeting following a September 11 inflation report. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said Friday that inflation remains too high and suggested a rate hike may be necessary in the coming months, while the yield on the two-year Treasury held at 4.34%, up sharply from roughly 3.50% at the start of 2026.
Markets Fall as Strikes Resume
Monday’s renewed military activity translated directly into market losses. The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%, even as energy stocks such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron posted gains. The Dow closed at 53,185.90, down 374.09 points, while the S&P 500 closed at 7,686.14. Despite Monday’s losses, all three indexes still posted gains for the month of August, with the Nasdaq up 3.9% and the S&P 500 up 2.6%.
Duckworth’s Extended Record on the War and Gas Prices
Monday’s post continues a pattern for Duckworth, who has repeatedly linked the Iran war to rising costs for American families throughout 2026. In April, Duckworth joined five Senate Democratic colleagues in pushing a War Powers Resolution aimed at ending what she called “Trump’s unjustified Iran War,” saying at the time that “Donald Trump continues to plunge our nation deeper into his unjustified war of choice, putting American lives at even further risk abroad and sending prices skyrocketing for Americans at home.” She added that “the wanna-be dictator in the White House continues to prove he has no serious plan to end this needless conflict.”
That same month, Duckworth argued during a push for a separate War Powers Resolution vote that rising gas prices were compounding hardship for families already struggling under the war’s economic weight, telling colleagues that “only a draft-dodging coward would think that this is the right way to engage in war” and calling on the Senate to “demand a vote on my War Powers Resolution to end Trump’s illegal war.”
Broader Democratic Pressure Over Gas Prices
Duckworth’s Monday statement adds to a chorus of Democratic criticism tying the war to the cost of living. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted in July that “gas prices are back above $4 per gallon” and questioned why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remained in his post, while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stood outside a gas station in Rochester, New York, in May, citing a Joint Economic Committee report finding that American families had paid $16 billion more for gas since the war began, including more than $517 million in New York state alone. The Democratic National Committee separately noted in a release this week that Americans had spent an additional $72 billion on gas since the war’s start, or roughly $604 per household.
Comparisons to the 2022 Record
The record Duckworth cited surpasses the previous high-water mark for August gas prices, set in August 2022 during the supply disruptions tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when the monthly average stood at $4.09 per gallon. By comparison, AAA’s August 27 data placed this year’s national average at $4.0997, sustained across every day of the month rather than a single high point, which analysts have said distinguishes the current run as a more prolonged period of elevated prices at the pump.
Regional Disparities
AAA’s data also showed wide variation across states. California recorded the nation’s highest average at $5.63 per gallon, followed by Hawaii at $5.41 and Washington at $5.27. Indiana had the lowest average nationally at $3.46, followed by Texas at $3.63 and Mississippi at $3.65.
White House Position
The Trump administration has consistently characterized the price increases as temporary. Energy Secretary Chris Wright predicted earlier in the year that gas prices would fall below $3 per gallon by summer, a projection that did not materialize as the war continued into its sixth month. President Trump himself said in a primetime address that gas prices represented a “short-term increase” that would ease once the Strait of Hormuz reopened, telling the public that Iran would eventually “want to be able to sell oil” and that prices would “rapidly come back down” once the conflict concluded.
Outlook
With midterm elections roughly two months away, the sustained pressure at the pump has become a central point of contention between the administration and congressional Democrats, including Duckworth. The Fed’s next inflation report on September 11, just days ahead of its policy meeting, is expected to shape whether the central bank moves to raise interest rates further in response to persistently high energy-driven inflation, while the trajectory of the war with Iran, and any movement toward a ceasefire, remains the central variable determining whether gas prices at the pump begin to ease.