Colorado GOP preps voter registration drive at gas stations amid #BidenGasHike

The Republican National Committee launched a nationwide initiative to register voters at gas stations, and motorists can expect to see canvassers at the pump in Colorado soon.

The initiative began last weekend with registration drives in Arizona and North Carolina amid the current nationwide spike in gas prices.

Voters at the initial drives in Arizona were reportedly heated over gas prices that, like Colorado, are near $4/gallon.

Colorado Republicans famously rolled out their Commitment to Colorado at a gas station last summer pledging to cut costs at the pump and repeal a new gas tax that Gov. Polis signed into law last year.

As part of that effort, Republicans in Colorado’s General Assembly recently called on President Biden and Polis to take steps to encourage more energy production in Colorado.

“In the last few weeks while our national inflation rate continues to rise, we’ve been seeing nearly record-breaking prices at the pump. The families of Colorado cannot afford this. We cannot afford these restrictive energy policies,” Minority Leader Hugh McKean said in a release announcing the resolution to promote more domestic energy production.

“Adjusting these policies and allowing Colorado to lead the nation in energy production is one way to address the cost of living in Colorado. Producing and exporting our energy will bring stability and increased capital to Colorado’s economy.”

Polis sought to provide himself with political cover by endorsing a suspension of the federal gas tax along with other Democrat governors like Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer earlier this month.

Since that effort has since fizzled in Congress, states like Georgia and Maryland have forged ahead and suspended their state gas taxes.

However, Polis and Democrats in Colorado’s General Assembly aren’t eager to do the same, Axios reports:

State of play: Colorado legislative leaders and budget writers say the idea isn’t being considered.

• Nor is it a priority for Gov. Jared Polis. He has joined other governors to demand a suspension of the 18-cent federal gas tax for the rest of the year — but he’s not advocating the same for the state’s 22-cent tax.
• Polis spokesperson Conor Cahill explained the apparent contradiction by telling Axios Denver that the governor supports reduced state gas taxes, but only if the money, earmarked for road construction, is backfilled from other sources.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s successful suspension of Maryland’s $0.36 cent/gallon gas tax makes for especially bad optics for Polis.

Hogan is a lame duck Republican, who managed to get the gas tax suspension through his Democrat-controlled legislature.

Polis, in contrast, has a competitive reelect this year, yet somehow lacks the political capital to get his own party to agree to suspend Colorado’s much smaller 22 cent per gallon tax.

That leaves Polis completely up the creek politically. Both Polis and President Biden have done everything they can to constrain domestic energy production, which the RNC emphasized announcing their voter registration drive.

“The Biden gas hike is a product of his own doing, and Americans have faced record-high gas prices as a result. The RNC is mobilizing at gas stations across the country to register voters and remind folks that the anti-American energy of Biden and the Democrats is costing them more,” said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Beyond Colorado, Republicans will also host voter registration drives in the battleground states of California, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin.