‘Politics of electricity’ over rising bills could power Democratic win, say clean energy advocates

Key Points:

• Rising electricity bills amid record summer heat in Arizona and other states are becoming a significant political issue in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, with voters increasingly linking utility costs to their voting choices.
• In Ohio, the rapid expansion of datacenters has driven electricity rates up by 34% since 2022, making it a key campaign issue; Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown criticizes Republican Jon Husted’s support for datacenters, which are unpopular among residents.
• Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is campaigning against the state’s large utility DTE Energy, highlighting its rate hikes and outages linked to datacenter contracts, while a ballot measure proposes replacing DTE with a public utility.
• In Arizona’s sixth congressional district, Democrat JoAnna Mendoza challenges incumbent Republican Juan Ciscomani over votes phasing out clean energy tax credits, which critics say have led to higher utility bills and job losses in clean energy sectors.
• Nationally, electricity prices have risen about 10% over two years, with 74% of Americans expressing strong concern about energy costs, and utility bills are emerging as a top-tier issue alongside broader affordability concerns in battleground districts.