High utility bills, Big Oil profits helped drive midterm voter turnout
Environmental groups said Democrats won control of the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections in part by holding Republicans accountable for spiking energy prices and their rejection of renewable power sources.
Electricity prices are up 18% nationwide since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, costing the average American household an estimated $2,000 so far.
Lori Lodes, president of the advocacy group Climate Power, said Republicans doubled down on oil and natural gas resources to benefit billionaires over working people paying their bills.
"Voters see clean energy as part of the answer to higher costs, and Democrats made that case and won," Lodes asserted.
Lodes pointed to Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, where Democratic state Senator Sean McCann ran a campaign focused on renewable energy and defeated eight-term Republican incumbent Bill Huizenga. In Texas, Senator-elect James Talarico vowed to hold Big Tech accountable for polluting data centers. He became the first Democrat to win a statewide election there since 1994.
The list goes on. For the first time in decades, voters in Georgia elected a Democratic majority to the state’s Public Service Commission, which helps decide what families pay for electricity.
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Lodes noted preelection polling in battleground states found high gas prices and utility bills were two of voters' top concerns. Gas prices are up 38% since the war with Iran began eight months ago. Lodes stressed Trump ran for re-election on a promise to cut energy prices but instead cut affordable clean energy.
"Every trip to the gas pump, every electric bill made Trump's broken promise personal. Big Oil and Big Tech got access, subsidies and favors, and American families got stuck with the bill," Lodes contended.
Lodes pointed out the Trump administration’s attacks on clean energy are continuing. Just last month, the Department of Justice asked a federal court to revoke the construction permits for a large offshore wind project near Massachusetts. Hundreds of clean energy projects have been canceled or stalled nationwide, while aging coal plants have remained open to help power data centers in Utah, Virginia, Florida and elsewhere.
Lodes emphasized voters expect results from the Democrats they have elected and are ready to hold political leaders accountable.
