U.S. inflation could affect 2022 Senate midterms in Georgia, Arizona

Matthew Rice doesn’t have to look hard for signs of inflation in Savannah, Georgia.

A gallon of gas cost $2.79 a few months ago, he said. Now it runs him more than $4.

“And, of course, when the price of gas goes up, the price of products goes up,” the 45-year-old added. “So yeah. It’s played a role in our household.”

Rice, a longtime Atlanta Braves fan and graduate of Armst­­rong State University, is one of the tens of thousands of Americans who say rising prices are straining their household budgets and shaping how they think about this year’s elections.

Gradual but steady jumps in the costs of groceries, housing and gas have forced consumers like Rice, who manages reservations for an RV park on nearby Tybee Island, to change how they spend money.

While his work has been busy as more Americans take long-delayed vacations following pandemic-era shutdowns, Rice said inflation has made him choosier when he, his mother and 10-year-old daughter shop for groceries every other Friday.

“We have, at times, made substitutions based off what’s available because of the supply chain,” he said. “And at times, due to the price, we maybe try other brands of products that we normally would not have tried before.”

Few areas of the country have seen inflation as bad as the South, where prices have risen across the 16-state region by an average of 8.4% from a year ago. That compares with year-over-year inflation of 8% in the Midwest, 8.1% in the West and 6.6% in the Northeast, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Inflation is particularly bad in Tampa, Miami and Atlanta where consumer prices have jumped by an average of 9.6%, 9.8% and a whopping 10.6%, respectively, over the last year.

But prices aren’t the only thing heating up in the South and West, as Georgia again finds itself in the middle of a fierce election cycle. Inflation has vaulted to the top of the minds of both voters and candidates across the state.

At the federal level, several Republicans hope to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who defeated Republican Kelly Loeffler in a special election in 2020. Loeffler was appointed in 2019 by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to finish the term of former Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned for health reasons.

Warnock is Georgia’s first Black senator, and his win gave Democrats a razor-thin majority in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the state’s…