Promises to fix soaring energy prices proved to be a winning message for Democratic party candidates in local and state elections across the US this week.
Electricity prices are rising twice as fast as the overall rate of inflation nationwide, an issue that politicians across the spectrum have come to see as potentially decisive for cash-strapped voters.
While President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have promised their own set of solutions, Tuesday’s results suggest voters are skeptical that shutting out clean energy is an effective strategy: Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey both won their races for governor after putting energy affordability at the center of their campaigns, while Democrats also took two seats on Georgia’s Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, on promises to bring more clean power to the state.
“These results show that energy policies now matter to voters in a way they rarely have before,” Ari Matusiak, CEO of the nonprofit Rewiring America, told Semafor.