Just like Democrats, supporters of President Donald Trump who saw Vice President JD Vance speak in Bangor on Thursday don’t like gas prices spiking because of the Iran war.
Yet many diehard Trump supporters shrugged off the economic effects of the war. Several guests who traveled from across the state and waited in line for hours to see Vance said they’re willing to give the White House time to lower gas and oil prices. Many also said they back Trump’s push to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran.
Candace Davis, a 58-year-old truck driver from Lincoln, said she believes prices will come down in the coming weeks and months. She said she trusts Trump to run foreign policy far more than former President Joe Biden.
“They always say, ‘Death to America,’” she said of the Iranian regime, adding that she was not opposed to the war effort despite Trump’s promise to lower Americans’ prices and keep the U.S. out of costly years-long wars.
Costs are perhaps the top issue looming over campaigns across the country in 2026. Maine has some of the biggest races, including one for the U.S. Senate that Vance nodded to on Thursday. It looks like a bad environment for Republicans with per-gallon gas prices above $4.50 in the state and Trump’s national approval rating is at its lowest point in his second term.
Two-thirds of Americans say Trump hasn’t explained a solid justification for the war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week. Another survey released this week gave the president a 30% approval rating on the economy.
Vance’s appearance focused on federal efforts to confront fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, a major talking point for Maine Republicans up and down the ballot. Vance praised Sen. Susan Collins and stumped for former Gov. Paul LePage, who is running for the 2nd Congressional District. He did not endorse in a gubernatorial primary.
The Iran war and the economy, and particularly high fuel prices, were still on the minds of many supporters and critics alike. A couple dozen protesters outside the airport Thursday chanted and waved to honking cars as they held signs reading “Stop Trump and the War.”
Collins is one of the few Republicans who have joined Democrats in failed war powers resolutions seeking to blunt the war. But critics and her likely Democratic opponent, the progressive oyster farmer Graham Platner, say her concerns over Trump’s actions and incendiary language on Iran are nullified by previous votes to let the war advance.
Gov. Janet Mills, who exited the Senate primary last month, responded to Vance’s fraud criticisms by saying they were “nothing but a weak attempt to distract” from the Iran war and “failure to control crushing costs.”
As she waited in line with hundreds of other Trump supporters, Lisa LaRue, a retiree from Ellsworth, acknowledged she doesn’t like “gas prices where they are.” But more important to her is that she “really [doesn’t] like being attacked with nuclear weapons” or having allies threatened.
“We need to be able to control our own destiny and not be threatened by unsavory governments, whether North Korea or Iran,” she said.
Karen Grace, a 60-year-old Searsport woman who’s worked in ministry in multiple states, said she feels solidarity with the Iranian people. But she did not believe the U.S. should always support the Israeli government, and she said she doesn’t like “some of the things [Trump’s] doing when it comes to the war.”
She still fully supports Trump, despite the war’s impacts on her and others’ prices at the pump. She said the administration’s handling of immigration compared to what she called “open borders” under Biden outweighs other concerns.
“Just like my kids,” she said. “I don’t support every decision they make, but I always support them.”
Edward Seamon, a 14-year-old from north of Augusta, also applauded Trump’s immigration crackdown. But he stood out among rallygoers by directly criticizing the Iran war and “interventionist” presidents throughout at least the last half-century.
He said one of the best things about Trump as he rose to power was that he was not a neoconservative or neoliberal getting us entrenched in wars in the Middle East.
“My peers are most concerned about the price of gas,” he said. “It’s almost $5 a gallon. I live in a very rural village. We have to drive basically everywhere.”
