A year after the reelection of President Donald Trump and his energy abundance agenda, Americans in New Jersey and Virginia went to the polls with energy prices on their minds. Unfortunately for these residents, the victories of Democrats Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia mean that these concerns aren’t going away anytime soon.
Despite claims from both candidates that they will lower electricity prices, their plans shouldn’t inspire any confidence. Instead of looking to expand the supply of reliable energy sources and roll back burdensome regulations, both candidates parroted talking points about expanding “clean” power, ignoring the real cause of price increases.
During her campaign, Sherrill stated that she would declare a state of emergency on utility costs, claiming that this designation would give her the authority to “freeze utility costs for families,” invest in “clean” power, hold utilities accountable, and sue the Trump administration and PJM Interconnection “to force them to end their mismanagement.”
While less combative than Sherrill’s, Spanberger’s plans were equally as far-fetched, aiming to support offshore wind development and expand the deployment of solar panels to “abandoned mine sites, former industrial sites, rooftops, and parking lots.” She also pledged to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state cap-and-trade program akin to a carbon tax. Incidentally, just recently, Pennsylvania officially withdrew from RGGI.
Notably, both candidates discussed cutting red tape and addressing permitting concerns. These goals would be praiseworthy if they weren’t tied to net-zero commitments, which inevitably lead to more intermittent sources on the grid and higher prices for consumers.
This disconnect between voters’ concerns about affordability and the candidates they put in office suggests that at least some have been influenced by the political propaganda surrounding electricity prices. After the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s “green” energy subsidies, Sherrill blamed Republicans for any resulting rise in electricity prices, saying, “Thanks to Republican leadership, New Jersey households will see another $100 increase in their utility bills starting next year as energy costs are already skyrocketing.” Spanberger insists that higher prices are a result of data centers not paying “their fair share.”
Democrats’ attempts to play the blame game for rising electricity prices shift the conversation away from the fact that their policies of pursuing climate goals over affordability and reliability have sidelined dispatchable power sources in favor of intermittent “green” technologies. A look at the timeline of electricity price increases makes this point clear.
Electricity prices rose by 25% under the Biden administration and continued after he left office, increasing 7% from June 2024 to June 2025. The OBBB’s phase-outs mean that it’ll be at least a few years before its effect on electricity prices can be evaluated, assuming a future Congress doesn’t reverse the provisions. In contrast, the results of the “green” agenda are reflected in the stagnation of electricity rates as wind and solar penetration grew from 1% of electricity generation in 2007 to 18% in 2024.
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Although blaming the Trump administration and congressional Republicans may have helped the Democrats score political points in the short term, it will inevitably come back to bite them when their policies continue to drive up energy prices. Adding more solar and wind power will not only increase costs but also make the electric grid less reliable. A study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that electricity price increases result from utility spending on distribution, transmission, disaster recovery, and “clean” energy programs.
Energy is complex. Sherrill, Spanberger, and Democrats across the country are counting on this to try to win elections by blaming high electricity prices on Trump. While they saw some success in an off-year election, the long-term outlook is far less promising. As Americans experience the consequences of rising energy costs, they will inevitably realize that reliable power sources are the only viable path forward. That, of course, is not in the policy playbook of the current Democratic Party.
Tom Pyle is the president of the American Energy Alliance.
