Diesel has hit a record price, the Midwest is paying the most for it, and the election is six weeks away. So on Tuesday, September 22, two Republican congressmen running for governor told reporters, in two different states, that Trump's war with Iran should end.

John James, running for governor of Michigan, said the war "should end yesterday," according to MLive.

Tom Tiffany, running for governor of Wisconsin, said it was time to "wrap up" the war, the Wisconsin Examiner reported. "Time to come home, take care of business here in America," he said.

Both men sit in the U.S. House, which has voted six times since March on whether to order U.S. forces out of the fighting. James voted no all six times. Tiffany voted no on the five he was present for. That's 11 votes between them against ending the war they now say should be over.

What they said on Tuesday

James, a combat veteran, told reporters at a press conference in Michigan that his position on the war has never changed.

"My position has always been, I hate war," James said. "I've always said that we need to use every resource at our disposal to bring this war to an end quickly." Asked a follow-up, he said the war "should end yesterday."

Tiffany spoke to reporters the same day at the Wisconsin Counties Association. "The president has final say in regards to this, but I just believe that we should be exiting Iran," he said. "It's time to move on."

But in the same breath, Tiffany explained why he kept voting against ending it: he believes the "president has that authority, and so he should exercise that authority."

That is not what the Constitution says. It gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war. That power is exactly what those House votes were about: each one would have told the president to pull U.S. forces out of the fighting unless Congress approved it.

Both men are endorsed by Trump, who that same day threatened to "annihilate" Iran in a speech to the United Nations.

The votes

Here is every House vote on ordering U.S. forces out of the war with Iran, taken from the official roll calls kept by the Clerk of the House:

The April vote lost by one. The May vote lost on a tie. Either man could have changed the outcome.

The most recent vote was just one week before Tuesday's comments. On September 15, seven House Republicans broke with their party and voted to end the war. James was not one of them, and voted no. Tiffany didn't vote; three days earlier, a small plane he was riding in had made an emergency landing on a lake. We covered the full September vote and all 180 members we track who voted no.

Why they're changing their tune now

Neither man explained what changed between September 15 and September 22. The news did. Diesel hit a record average of $6.51 a gallon this week, with the Midwest paying more than the rest of the country, according to the Wisconsin Examiner. In Wisconsin, it hit $6.56 on Monday.

Democrats have been hammering them on it. Tiffany's Democratic opponent, David Crowley, released an ad this week blaming him for higher gas and diesel prices. "Five times he has had the chance to end the war that's driving our prices up, and five times he's chosen Trump instead," Crowley said.

In Michigan, the state Democratic Party pointed straight at James's September 15 vote. James's campaign declined to comment on his votes, MLive reported, and pointed back to what he'd said at the press conference.

They're not the only ones

James and Tiffany are the latest in a line of Republicans suddenly talking about peace as the election gets close. Earlier this week, Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson and Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers (MI) both said the war needs to end — six days after Hinson voted to keep it going.

We've also laid out each man's record before. James voted no on all six resolutions while Michigan gas jumped 58 cents in a week. Tiffany promised Wisconsin a 50-cent fix for $5 gas while voting five times to keep the war going.

The record

John James and Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominees for governor of Michigan and Wisconsin, both said on September 22 that the Iran war should end. In the House, James voted no on all six resolutions to pull U.S. forces out of the war, the last one seven days before he said it "should end yesterday." Tiffany voted no on the five he was present for, and said he voted that way because the president "has that authority" — over a war the Constitution puts in Congress's hands.

Sources

Michigan Republican John James joins calls for end to Iran War — MLive. Tiffany seeks to distance himself from Trump, rising gas prices and the Iran War — Wisconsin Examiner. Photo: Baylor Spears / Wisconsin Examiner. Roll calls from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House.