Voters Head to Polls With Economy on Ballot

Voters head to the polls Tuesday with prices doing most of the talking. Consumer prices are up 3.7% over the year through September, and Freddie Mac has the 30-year mortgage averaging 7.24% as of Oct. 29, enough to make a young couple rethink buying a house. Diesel climbed from about $3.45 a gallon in early 2025 to a peak of $6.53, per the Energy Information Administration. A New York Fed study says tariffs pushed prices on the consumer goods it examined up by about 2.9 points, and I'd like to see a Washington economist explain that one to a man filling up a diesel truck. Washington's usual cure is more Washington, and I once watched a county commission form a committee to fix one leaking stock tank. Voters get the final say on abortion, taxes and redistricting, plus a billionaires tax in California. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and this Tuesday the squeaky wheels get a ballot.