A cafe owner and a household in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District are adapting their spending as costs rise, showing how inflation is reaching small businesses and families before Tuesday’s election.
NPR reported that Menokin office manager Jameka Campbell, a mother of two, targets $100 a month for household supplies at Walgreens and uses store promotions. On one shopping trip, she spent $60.04 and saved $27.71, according to NPR.
At Java Jacks in Tappahannock, owner Jeans Owens told NPR coffee prices had risen by more than 30% since 2022. Her usual monthly electricity bill of $450 to $500 had exceeded $1,000, she said. NPR reported that Owens also described the combined price of a to-go cup, lid and straw climbing from about 3 cents to more than 20 cents, and takeout boxes rising from 12 cents to nearly 30 cents.
NPR reported that Owens checks prices with three suppliers, buys some milk and juice at Walmart, and has kept some meals at $10 while raising other menu prices.
Owens told NPR Java Jacks and a second cafe in Warsaw had been short-staffed for months at a time. She linked hiring and retention difficulties to transportation and housing problems, saying she carpools about five employees and has helped some find housing, including temporary motel stays.
National figures offer broader context. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was 3.7% higher in the 12 months ending in September 2026; its gasoline index rose 9.1% over the month. The index tracks urban consumers and excludes rural nonmetropolitan spending, so it does not measure the specific costs described in these interviews.
The Virginia Department of Elections lists Democrat Shannon L. Taylor and Republican Robert J. “Rob” Wittman as candidates in the district’s Tuesday, Nov. 3, U.S. House race. An AP-NORC survey found 65% of U.S. adults assigned greater responsibility for high prices to President Donald Trump’s policies, according to earlier EconoTimes coverage of the poll.
BLS’s schedule lists the October CPI release for Nov. 10 at 8:30 a.m. ET.
