Governor Gavin Newsom’s Hypocrisy on Gas Prices Is Breathtaking

Governor Gavin Newsom has been busy on X lately, posting repeatedly about gasoline prices and blaming the war in Iraq for driving them higher. He is correct that the conflict in Iran affects oil markets, but the governor has some explaining to do. Twenty percent of the oil California uses flows through the Strait of Hormuz, and that’s a consequence of Newsom’s own energy policies. Before California’s governor lectures the rest of the country about gasoline prices, he should answer a simple question: Why are California’s gasoline prices so much higher than the national average?  

Data Source: GasBuddy.com

California Has the Highest Gas Prices in the Country. Newsom Helped Built That.

How much does California pay for Gavin’s anti-oil policies? In 2025, California paid $20 billion more for gasoline than the national average. 

Here’s the math:   

California used more than 13.4 billion gallons of gasoline in 2025. The average price in 2025 (before the Iran conflict) was roughly $1.50 per gallon above the national average. That means Californians paid $20.1 billion more in 2021 than they would have if they had paid the national average.  

Today, this comparison is even worse. California’s gasoline prices are $1.80 more than the national average.    

As recently as 2016, California was the third-largest oil-producing state in the country. By 2025, it had fallen to eighth. California didn’t run out of oil. Newsom and previous administrations systematically restricted the permitting and development of California’s domestic resources, leading to a collapse in production. The state that once helped launch the global oil industry now imports nearly two-thirds of its oil from foreign sources.

In 1988, approximately 95% of the oil supplied to California refineries came from California and Alaska. Today, 63.5% comes from foreign sources — with 21% from Iraq, 5% from Saudi Arabia, and 4% from the UAE. That’s the chart Newsom should be showing in his X posts (and the chart below is from the state of California):

Source: California Energy Commission

The growth in California’s foreign oil dependency isn’t a market phenomenon. It’s the predictable real-world consequence of decades of anti-production policy.

The Real Reason Newsom Is Blaming Trump and Iran

Newsom’s pivot to blaming Trump and Middle East instability for California’s gas prices is strategically transparent. As noted above, 20% of the oil California uses comes from the Middle East, specifically through the Strait of Hormuz. That exposure exists because California has made itself dependent on foreign oil by suppressing domestic and Alaskan production.

The point of blaming Trump is not to solve California’s gasoline price problem. The point is to avoid accountability for the policy choices that created it. California-based environmental activist groups have spent years working to reduce oil production in Alaska and at home. The result is a state where two-thirds of its oil supply is imported, and the governor is surprised when geopolitical risk in the Middle East shows up at the pump.

The Fix Is Obvious. Newsom Won’t Take It.

California has significant remaining oil resource potential. It could expand in-state production. It could work to support more oil development in Alaska rather than opposing it. Either path would reduce foreign energy dependence and put downward pressure on the prices Newsom is now complaining about.

Instead, Newsom is trying to further increase gasoline prices in California through additional regulatory mandates, while posting on social media about gasoline prices as though it’s someone else’s fault.