Democrats plan to hammer Republicans over electricity prices in 2026 and possibly beyond as they try to replicate their 2025 successes.
Candidates who won key races last week in states including New Jersey and Georgia talked frequently about the rising costs of electricity and pledged to bring them down.
The issue will be part of a broader Democratic strategy of centering affordability, but it also marks a shift for the party in how they talk about energy and climate issues.
“It’s not about electric power, it’s about economic power. I think we have to reframe it as a cost-of-living issue,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said of climate change at a recent press conference.
Newsom, who is expected to run for president in 2028, noted rising electric bills are “a kitchen table issue.”
Electricity prices are up 5.1 percent from a year ago, outpacing general inflation; prices overall are only 3 percent higher than they were a year ago.
In some states, the jump is even greater — New Jersey’s residential electricity prices are nearly 21 percent higher than they were a year ago.
Democratic Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill frequently talked about bringing down power costs in the Garden State, bringing it up in her opening statement in a gubernatorial debate.
Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat who won Virginia’s governorship last week, has described the issue as an “impending energy crisis” and criticized Republican cuts to energy projects.
And in Georgia, Democrats won both seats that were up on the state’s Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities including electric companies.
Democrats, looking ahead to the midterms, see the issue as a winner.
“Electricity costs are the new eggs,” said Christina Polizzi, spokesperson for climate politics group Climate Power.
“This election, it was really clear that affordability and cost of living are top of mind for voters, and utility costs are a critical part of that,” she said.
Polizzi added that Democrats should try to keep focus on the issue going forward.
“The Democrats that were running on Tuesday did a fantastic job centering energy costs in their messaging,” she said. “Tuesday holds a really clear lesson for Democrats moving forward, which is that we have to go on offense on costs.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the House campaign arm of the party, said it plans to keep talking about the issue.
“Americans want lower costs, and rising energy bills will be a regular, unavoidable reminder to voters that House Republicans have failed miserably. As working families across the country see their utility bills go up and up, the DCCC will make sure everyone knows who’s to blame when they vote in 2026,” spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a written statement to The Hill.
Data centers, whose construction has had at least some support from members of both parties, are a major cause of the price spikes.
Experts recently told The Hill that federal policies can take years to actually factor into people’s power bills, but said that ones supporting data center expansion, taking either fossil or renewable energy off the grid or supporting the export of U.S.-produced gas could all exacerbate the issue going forward.
Democrats see President Trump’s attacks on green energy, from axing tax credits to canceling funding to reconsidering previously approved projects, as one way they can point to his administration in the debate.
“Trump slashing all of these clean energy projects … gave an easy link to being able to blame him for it,” Democratic strategist Eddie Vale said.
He said Trump’s cuts to renewable projects “let Democrats make a case, especially when you have specific projects in specific districts” that were killed.
Trump has sought to argue that energy prices are low, frequently pointing to the price of gasoline, which is down to about $3.08 per gallon on average.
“If affordability is you issue, VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump posted on social media on Election Day. “Energy costs, as and example, are plummeting — Getting close to 2 Dollar a gallon gasoline. When energy goes down, everything else follows, and it has!!! President DJT.”
Meanwhile, a question for Democrats going forward will be whether to only talk about energy in terms of affordability, or whether they should talk about both the economy and the environment.
Vale said that, in most cases, Democrats should stick to the economy.
“You’re just going to want to take the win here on energy costs because it’s so across the board. It’s such a pocketbook issue, and winning on it and getting them to … build more green power gets you what you want on the environmental side,” he said. “There’s no reason to try to muddy the waters.”
Denae Ávila-Dickson, a spokesperson for the progressive Sunrise Movement, disagreed, saying Democrats can talk about both bringing down energy costs and taking on climate change.
“I think it has to be both,” Ávila-Dickson said.
She added that for young people, the issues of affordability and climate are linked, with some saying, “I am really worried about the climate crisis and what that means for my future, but at the same time, I’m struggling to find a job where at a time where my rent is increasing and I can’t afford groceries. So how are we going to address both those things at the same time?”