Not only have the effects of climate change become even more apparent over the past year—just last week. two people died in a flood in New York, and new report Extreme heat is estimated to kill one person per minute worldwide, but Americans are increasingly struggling to pay their energy bills. Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults are unable to pay their energy bills, according to the 2024 Census. As noted in an October study by Public Grids, a government advocacy organization, this was before the massive expansion of data centers and the repeal of the Republican-led Inflation Relief Act, which had some provisions to make renewable energy more affordable for homeowners and renters.
In New Jersey, one of the most important gubernatorial races in the country, Democrat Mickey Sherrill won
advertised sea wind during the campaign against Jack Ciattarelli, a Trump-backed enemy of all turbine manufacturing. She has placed energy affordability at the center of her campaign. oath freeze utility rates, “massively build cheaper and cleaner” energy, regulate energy companies much more tightly, and sue the Trump administration to allow New Jersey to expand its renewable energy sector. It wasn't just part of her platform; she talked about it all the time while spending a quarter of her advertising money on this issue. As New Jersey residents face a 22 percent increase in energy costs, energy affordability has become central to the election, and Cheryl's approach prevailed. It also helped that the League of Conservation Voters of New Jersey spent $1.7 million attacks his opponent on this issue.
Similarly, Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic gubernatorial winner in Virginia who, like Cheryl, is generally considered a centrist Democrat, ran an ad in which she spoke on energy availability; promised to force data centers to pay a fair share of energy costs; and said it would build solar, wind and nuclear power. In Georgia, a relatively little-known race for seats on the state Civil Service Commission two democrats prevailed over Republicans by touting renewable energy and restrictions on data center development, marking the first victory for Georgia Democrats in a non-federal statewide election in nearly 20 years. In another smaller but important victory in Pennsylvania, three Democratic state Supreme Court justices kept their placesmaintaining a Democratic majority on the court hearing a major climate case challenging the legality of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro's decision. carbon credit program.
