A group of Republican Senate candidates in battleground races have yet to weigh in on President Donald Trump’s controversial deal for Russian diesel, even as the chorus of candidates trying to create daylight with the president grows louder by the day.
Of the 13 most competitive Senate races, seven Republicans have expressed skepticism or outright opposition to the agreement that is unlikely to significantly affect high diesel costs contributing to broader inflation.
That leaves six Senate GOP candidates who have declined to stake out a position on an issue other colleagues are panning just weeks before the midterm elections as an affordability gimmick and “betrayal” to Ukraine. The half-dozen holdouts include Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Darline Graham (R-SC), Texas’s Ken Paxton, North Carolina’s Michael Whatley, and Minnesota’s Michele Tafoya.
None of the campaigns responded to requests for comment.
Of the six, only Graham leads, by 2 points, in the RealClearPolitics aggregate. Marshall is tied with Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton, while the other four trail to varying degrees.
Those who are skeptical or opposed include Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA); Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jon Husted (R-OH), and Pete Ricketts (R-NE); Michigan’s Mike Rogers; and New Hampshire’s John E. Sununu.
Husted called Russian President Vladimir Putin “very distrustful.” Collins, of Maine, signed a bipartisan letter to Trump condemning it as “a gift to our adversary.” Sununu objected to “provid[ing] an advantage to Russia” for something that “really has minimal impact on the markets here.”
“We need to lower gas prices in this country. We need to lower diesel prices, but I don’t think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it,” Hinson said during her second debate against Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek.
Meanwhile, Trump shows no signs of backing down.
The president downplayed the criticism within his party over the agreement, which would supply the United States and global marketplaces with diesel equivalent to only a little more than one day of global demand. And the White House reiterated there were no plans to change course. The deal also undermines U.S. sanctions and restrictions against importing Russian fuels in response to its war on Ukraine.
Trump again floated a diesel export ban, a move the White House has long considered and one that many Republicans have advocated despite pushback from energy analysts.
“I think these are Republicans that can’t really be serious,” the president told reporters at the White House this week. “We make a lot of oil. We could do a restriction on oil, but the rest of the world would be greatly — greatly — affected if we do that. And we could do a restriction, you know, a cap on diesel, keep it all for ourselves. That would have a very big impact.”
In the context of the deal with Russia, Trump continued: “Anything that could help our farmers, our ranchers, I like.”
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers added in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that “lowering prices for America’s great farmers, truckers, and families remains a top priority as the president simultaneously urges both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to stop strikes against refineries, which are driving up costs and hurting American consumers.”
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President Donald Trump listens as Republican U.S. Senate candidate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a campaign rally at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Opposition from outgoing Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) also place additional scrutiny on their potential Republican successors, Paxton and Whatley. Paxton has privately cited the Iran war and its skyrocketing effects on gas and diesel prices as a drag on his campaign against Democratic nominee James Talarico.
TRUMP SAYS RUSSIAN DIESEL DEAL ISN’T FOR THE US: ‘THAT’S A WORLD DEAL’
The average cost of diesel per gallon was $6.30 as of Wednesday, according to AAA, compared to the pre-Iran war price of $3.75. It’s a commodity that greatly affects costs associated with farming, transportation, and food. Regular gas was $4.33 per gallon as of Wednesday, up from the prewar price of $2.98.
Collins, of Georgia, conceded in his debate against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) that “prices are high” but “will continue to come down,” offering another example of sky-high fuel prices creating political obstacles for Republicans on the trail who have opted not to break with Trump.
