Media give Democrats a pass on utility failure disasters

Published September 9, 2022 12:00am ET



Last winter, when Texas experienced a power grid failure due to a winter storm, the person who took most of the brunt of the media ire was Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who was vacationing with his family in Mexico. Few in the media stopped to ask what a U.S. senator has to do with a local state power grid.

Last month, when Jackson, Mississippi, experienced a flood that shut down the city’s largest water treatment plant, the media and political Left blamed a climate crisis, environmental racism, and the Republican governor. The real culprit, however, was the city’s catastrophically ill-maintained water plant. But national reporters had little interest in blaming the mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat and self-professed socialist who was elected in 2017. This matters because Democrats have controlled the city’s mayoral office going back to 1948.

Already a print subscriber? Click here to login/register your account

Trusted reporting.Unlimited access.

Subscribe for full access to Washington Examiner coverage, expert political analysis, and subscriber-only journalism.

Get Unlimited Access

Already a member? Log in

Cancel anytime.