Day 106 - Record Diesel in Delaware, a War Calendar in Washington
Dear Delaware,
Start at the pump again, because it got worse.
AAA (https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=DE) puts Delaware diesel at $6.4464 a gallon this morning. That is the highest Delaware diesel average AAA has ever recorded. A month ago it was $5.7459. A year ago it was $3.6676. Regular is $4.3533. The national average is $4.4874.
Diesel moves the trucks that stock our grocery shelves, the rigs on our farms, the pickups on our job sites. That is the war bill nobody in Washington mails you. You pay it anyway.
A no, on the record
Friday, Iran said it had sent Washington a seven-day plan through Qatari mediators to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Late Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that President Trump would reject it. Saturday, he said so himself. "I reject their proposal," he told reporters outside the White House before leaving for Tennessee, Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/26/trump-rejects-irans-seven-day-roadmap-to-reopen-strait-of-hormuz) reported.
An offer was never a deal. A deal would not have been a reopening. The strait is not open. There is no ceasefire. And Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Tehran no longer trusts negotiations with Washington.
Iran's conditions were Tehran's asks, not a signed agreement: an end to hostilities including Lebanon, oil sanctions waived, frozen funds released, the naval blockade lifted. And a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran would show no flexibility on its nuclear program even if Washington said yes. I will not pretend this was peace on a platter. But a one-line no on the way out of town is not a plan to end this war, and it is not an answer to the Delaware families paying for it.
The full breakdown is on our News page: Trump rejects the seven-day clock as Delaware diesel sets a record (https://travisjackstevens.com/news/day-106-rejection-clock-delaware-diesel-record).
The midterms as a war calendar
According to the Journal's unnamed U.S. officials, the President has told staff he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November midterms. Al Jazeera reports he has also said he expects a deal shortly after the midterms. Either way, the timeline runs straight through our election.
If that report is true, the next bombs are not being weighed against whether they are right. They are being timed around when you vote. The war calendar is being written around the election calendar, and you carry the cost at the pump while you wait.
That is not strategy. That is scheduling. It is not accountability.
A U.S. official told Al Jazeera that Washington is "in no hurry." Delaware families are in a hurry. Nobody filling a tank in Dover or Georgetown gets to wait until after November.
Where I stand
I spent years as a travel ICU nurse. At the bedside, you learn that delay is a decision, and it has a cost you can measure. Here, the cost shows up on the pump.
If a new bombing campaign is coming, it should be debated in Congress before the election, in daylight, with a vote on the record. Not revealed to voters after the ballots are counted. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, not a campaign calendar. No blank checks. No forever war billed to working families who never voted for it.
Delaware deserves a Senator who asks the question before November, not after.
This campaign is people-funded. No Super PAC. Ever.
The Delaware Department of Elections lists me as a Qualified write-in candidate. My name is not printed on the ballot. Thirty-eight days from now, on November 3, write TRAVIS JACK STEVENS for U.S. Senate.
With gratitude and determination,
Travis Jack Stevens Write-in candidate for U.S. Senate - Delaware travisjackstevens.com
