Rick Scott

Republican Senator Rick Scott said that the recent surge in gas prices in the U.S. is “terrible” but he believes it is “worth it,” even as drivers in his state, Florida, reportedly face crippling shortages and a statewide average price now above $4.

As of early Friday morning, the national average gas price was $4.39 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), up from $2.98 per gallon before the start of the war in Iran. In California, where drivers are paying the highest prices in the nation at the pump, gas goes for over $6 a gallon.

“I hate them going up, but there’s a trade off-right now,” Scott said in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday.

“I want my family, your family to be safe. [...] It’s terrible that we have higher gas prices, but the trade-off is we’re going to live in freedom and democracy and we don’t have somebody—a lunatic—that’s going to drop a nuclear weapon on us.”

He added: “I don’t know what the price tag is, but it’s worth it to me.”

This is a developing news story and will be updated with more information shortly.