What a Tank of Gas Taught Me About 2024
On May 15, 2022, I turned sixteen and earned my driver’s license the very same day. No Fourth of July celebration I’d ever been to came close to the rush of freedom and independence I felt in that moment. For the next month, it seemed like I spent more time in my 20-year-old car than in my own house.
In June of 2022, the thrill of independence I had embraced in May was quickly replaced by the sting of a $66 gas bill. Nearly my entire after-school paycheck disappeared into my gas tank. Even then, I knew the gas price wasn’t normal.
When Biden took office in January 2021, the average gas price was $2.34 per gallon. In June 2022, the gas price rose to $5.12 per gallon. For me, it was frustrating. But for families already stretched thin, those same gas prices forced them to choose between filling up the car and paying for groceries or rent.
Like most Americans, I didn’t understand how the economy worked or what exactly caused the inflation at the time, but I did know who the president was. The inflation crisis of 2022 became the glass window through which Americans came to see Biden’s time in office. When it came to the 2024 election, the inflation of 2022 was at the forefront of our minds, not idealistic debates about the state of democracy.
The 2024 election was not a radical change in the American electorate; it was a backlash. By the summer, his approval rating had sunk into the low 30s, a sign that voters held him responsible for rising costs and economic strain. Few Americans are eager to vote for the party that recently made their lives worse. Biden’s Vice President, Kamala Harris, was viewed as an extension of that same leadership.
In March of 2024, Biden was declared the presumptive democratic nominee. Four months later, on July 21st, Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race. That same day, he endorsed Kamala Harris as the new democratic nominee. Voters were angry at the past four years, and Harris hadn’t built the familiarity to stand on her own
She entered the race with barely 100 days to define herself. Instead of being viewed as a fresh start, she was tied to a presidency voters had already rejected. What voters wanted was someone who acknowledged their anger and promised change. There just wasn’t enough time for Harris to step out of Biden’s shadow.
Kamala was relying on the Democratic Party’s reputation, and their reputation was nothing more than another drawback for her campaign. Voters increasingly view the Democratic Party as “out of touch.” Even as a democrat, I questioned whether there was any real center to the party in the 2024 election.
I couldn’t figure out how to advocate for democrats without falling back on criticizing Trump. And neither could the very person in his opposition. During the presidential debate, Kamala spent her second statement reminding voters why Trump was the wrong choice rather than showing them why she was the right choice.
Instead of seizing the opportunity to define herself, she echoed the party’s habit of playing defense. Even at its most disciplined, the Democratic message seemed defined by cultural fights rather than concrete solutions. It seemed like we were clinging to abortion and reproductive rights, climate change, and relaxed border enforcement.
While these issues stir passion, most voters were still stuck on their grocery receipts and gas bills. The economy was the issue that cut through every other concern. Yet, Democrats seemed preoccupied with debates that didn't match people’s daily anxieties. That disconnect left many Americans feeling like the party was fighting for causes, but not for them.
At first glance, the 2024 election might have looked like the beginning of a realignment in which Democrats were losing touch with American voters. However, the case for realignment collapsed once you realized Republicans were running defense, too. Trump didn’t surge on some wave of radical change in 2024; he eked out a 1.5% win by running against the weaker party. Trump used the same strategy as Biden in 2020: don’t choose the president now, choose me.
Nothing illustrates this defensive campaigning more clearly than the “Let’s Go Brandon” slogan. It wasn’t a call for transformation. It was just a reminder to voters of how much they disliked Biden. Ultimately, the 2024 election wasn’t about democracy or realignment. It was about the same sting I felt at the gas pump, multiplied across millions of voters.