Average gasoline prices in Virginia have fallen 5.4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $2.94/g today, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 4,081 stations in Virginia. Prices in Virginia are 10.9 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 17.4 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has declined 1.3 cents in the last week and stands at $3.503 per gallon.
According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Virginia was priced at $2.49/g yesterday while the most expensive was $3.99/g, a difference of $1.50/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $2.49/g while the highest was $3.99/g, a difference of $1.50/g.
The national average price of gasoline has fallen 1.4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.01/g today. The national average is down 11.2 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 23.7 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
“Ahead of Thanksgiving, motorists continue to be teased by the prospect of a $2.99 per gallon national average, a level now seen in 32 states. But for the last few weeks, the stars just haven’t quite aligned,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Last week, Russia’s threats after Ukraine used long-range U.S. missiles pushed oil prices back above $70 per barrel. Now, some promotions ahead of Thanksgiving are pushing gas prices back down, even as oil remains elevated. For now, we’re just pennies away from the national average falling to $2.99, but for a third year, we may again fall short. As Americans prepare to hit the road for Thanksgiving, we’re seeing the lowest national average price of gasoline since 2021, with a far better economic picture than when gas prices were last this low.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Democratic National Committee on Saturday is launching a new ad campaign targeted at rural voters to boost turnout in two southern battlegrounds in the final days of the presidential election.
The effort, backed by a six-figure media buy, comes as Democrats are especially concerned that early vote turnout is low among Black voters in rural areas. The effort will span 15 counties that are part of the “Black Belt” in Georgia and North Carolina.
The ads, which will run on multi-media billboards and on radio stations in the area, will feature DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison, a Black South Carolinian who has spoken extensively of his upbringing in rural Orangeburg. The effort will promote policies that Democrats say will help rural voters, including expanding rural infrastructure, making health care more affordable and ensuring rural hospitals can remain open.
“In the final days of this election, Democrats are not taking our foot off the gas as we communicate our plan for rural America. From affordable and accessible health care, to lower costs, and economic opportunities, the Democratic Party will fight for the policies that make a tangible difference for rural Americans,” Harrison said in a statement provided first to ABC News.
“Growing up in a rural town, I know how important it is to show up and truly meet rural voters where they are. The DNC’s latest rural ‘I Will Vote’ initiative does exactly that, ensuring that the final message rural voters in the critical battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina receive in this election is Democrats’ commitment to fight for them.”
The ad buy comes as Democrats grow concerned that Black rural voters are not participating in early voting at the rate that the party needs.
Democrats hope to be competitive in Georgia and North Carolina, where Black rural voters are key. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to clean up in urban areas, but she’ll have to keep former President Donald Trump’s rural margins down enough to stop him from offsetting her advantage in cities like Atlanta and Raleigh.
In Georgia, 41% of early voters are Republican, and 42% are Democrats, according to 538 analysis of voter data from L2, a non-partisan political data company. In 2020, early voting was 41% Republican – 46% Democrat.
It’s the same story in North Carolina, where 34% of early vote ballots have been cast by Republicans, and 33% by Democrats. In 2020, early voting was 32% Republican – 35% Democrat.
Of voters who voted early in 2020, only 66% of Black voters have cast an early ballot this time around so far. That number drops to 63% of Black voters in rural areas.
The drop is likely explainable in part by this year’s election not taking place in the middle of a pandemic, whereas in 2020, many voters leaned on early and absentee voting to avoid long lines and possible COVID-19 exposures.
Still, both states remain highly competitive. Polling averages from 538 show Trump up 1.6 points in Georgia and 1.3 points in North Carolina.
Early voting has also had some promising signs for Democrats, including high female turnout, particularly as polls show a widening gender gap, with women leaning toward Harris and men toward Trump.
And while operatives said Democrats were not hitting their marks with Black rural voters early on, that trend has begun to be mitigated, with veteran North Carolina Democratic strategist Morgan Jackson conceding that while “they had started early vote a little low,” the turnout has “picked up pretty substantially.”
“My suspicion is by Saturday’s close, they’ll be at parity with where they were four years ago,” added Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College in North Carolina who is tracking the early vote numbers.
(NEW YORK) — A tropical storm warning is in effect in the Carolinas as the coast braces for a new storm set to make landfall on Monday.
The tropical system may strengthen to Tropical Storm Helene by the time it comes on shore near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Monday afternoon.
Helene will bring the threat of wind gusts up to 55 mph, coastal flooding with waves up to 11 feet, heavy rain possibly reaching 10 inches and potential flash flooding.
There’s also a threat for a few tornadoes in North Carolina on Monday.
Some of the rain will then reach the Mid-Atlantic, including Washington, D.C., by Tuesday.
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina face the risk of flash flooding on Monday and Tuesday.
The coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina, is in the bull’s-eye for the worst of the flooding. Flash flood threat map, Sep. 16, 2024.
