Energy prices and datacenters drew voter attention to climate policy
Democrats swept the US House and Senate and several governorships in Tuesday’s 2026 midterms, bringing climate-focused candidates into office across the country. Affordability dominated voter concerns, and many winning candidates connected energy prices, datacenters, fossil-fuel policy and climate change to household costs. State-level contests also produced changes in utility regulation and ballot measures with implications for energy costs.
A Wednesday analysis by the Climate and Community Institute said the results showed “candidates can win on green economic populism.” The institute found that candidates with the strongest alignment to that approach won 39 of 56 federal House and Senate races, or 70 percent. That included 6 of 7 Senate races and 33 of 49 House races in which those candidates ran.
CCI said successful candidates connected the cost-of-living and climate crises and identified utilities, oil companies, corporate landlords and data center developers as shared drivers. Johanna Bozuwa, the institute’s executive director, said, “voters want leaders who will make life affordable and stand up for working people against elites, and climate is a critical part of that equation.” The analysis suggested the election may have opened a path to a different climate politics, though climate itself was not the election’s central issue.
The Guardian reported that Donald Trump’s war with Iran raised gas-pump prices across the country while the US oil industry earned $130bn in profits since the war began. Household energy costs also rose amid constraints on renewable energy, climate disasters and a datacenter boom. Before the election, Gavin Newsom warned about “climate hushing” as Democrats debated whether to address the worsening climate crisis directly or keep their message focused on affordability.
Bill McKibben, an environmentalist and author, said energy prices and the Iran war were linked to Trump’s strategy of oil dominance. He described the election as a rejection of oil as the way to power the future. McKibben also said datacenters became the central issue for voters across party lines: “There’s no question it was the biggest crossover issue to get Republicans, Democrats and independents going in the same direction.”
Democrats’ control of both chambers will give them the ability to launch investigations and subpoena witnesses and documents. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House natural resources committee, vowed to investigate big oil’s profits during the Iran war. Passing budgets may require Democrats to compromise with Trump, giving them an opportunity to add climate provisions, while control of the Senate can block appointments of anti-climate federal judges, cabinet officers and sub-cabinet positions.
The election could also affect a permitting reform bill covering clean-energy and fossil-fuel projects. A Senate vote could come as early as 9 November, before newly elected candidates take their seats in January. McKibben called on Democrats to restore funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies facing cuts to climate science, and to block legislation that would give major oil companies immunity from climate damages. Attention will now shift from campaign messaging to how Democrats use their governing leverage.
JoAnna Mendoza declared victory in Arizona’s sixth congressional district against Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani, who had voted to phase out Biden-era clean-energy tax credits. Mendoza campaigned for clean-energy investment to reduce ratepayer costs and for water security, including protecting groundwater and cleaning up Pfas in drinking water.
Randy Villegas, a 31-year-old college professor and the son of Mexican immigrants, declared victory in California’s 22nd congressional district against Republican incumbent David Valadao. Villegas supports an “all of the above” energy strategy that includes oil and gas jobs alongside solar, geothermal and battery storage. He also supports stronger heat protections for farm workers, protections that Trump halted when he entered office.
Brad Lander won New York’s reliably blue 10th congressional district after supporting outdoor-worker heat protections and opposing the Northeast Supply Enhancement methane pipeline that Governor Kathy Hochul revived under Trump. In Michigan, Will Lawrence, a 36-year-old climate activist and co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, declared victory in a purple district after campaigning for state and federal moratoriums on hyperscale datacenters.
Grist reported that Lawrence has expressed skepticism about some large clean-energy projects and shifted away from the Green New Deal toward greater community control over development. McKibben, who door-knocked for Lawrence, called his victory “really remarkable” and said Lawrence overcame $4m in Trump Pac-funded attack ads. Lawrence wrote that voters were “tired of politicians putting corporations over people” and would support clean energy intended to lower bills.
Cait Conley was declared the winner of New York’s 17th district on Wednesday morning. The suburban battleground winner has called climate change a “national security crisis” and pledged to seek federal investment in solar, wind and geothermal energy while pressing the Trump administration to rejoin the Paris climate agreement.
Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers in one of the country’s fiercest battleground races, winning a Michigan Senate seat. El-Sayed supports the Green New Deal and a transition toward 100% renewable energy. His campaign backed state and local datacenter moratoriums and emphasized affordability and taking money out of politics. He criticized Rogers for accepting past donations from major oil companies and DTE Energy, an investor-owned utility that has increased energy bills in Michigan.
Sherrod Brown won his Ohio Senate race against incumbent Jon Husted. As lieutenant governor, Husted helped attract datacenters to Ohio with tax breaks. The state has the fourth-highest number of proposed and operational datacenters of any state. Brown’s campaign called Husted the “face of datacenters” and connected his support for the industry to electricity bills that rose 34% in Ohio since 2022. A leaked Republican memo acknowledged in August, “More than any other thing in this race, datacenters are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.”
James Talarico won Democrats their first Texas Senate seat in decades against Republican Ken Paxton. Once an outspoken climate advocate, Talarico moderated his position after Republican attacks portrayed him as hostile to the oil and gas industry. He said in 2022 that “fossil fuels are destroying the planet” and introduced the Texas Climate Action act in 2021. The bill did not pass but would have established greenhouse-gas reduction targets. Talarico now proposes an “all of the above” approach that protects the fossil-fuel industry while investing in renewables.
Roy Cooper defeated former oil and gas lobbyist Michael Whatley to gain another North Carolina Senate seat for Democrats. Cooper pushed climate policies while governor despite a Republican-controlled legislature and tied Whatley to cost-of-living concerns by noting his Duke Energy investments. The utility had asked the North Carolina Utilities Commission to approve a rate increase before the election. Ed Markey, a co-author of the Green New Deal, also won his Massachusetts Senate race after campaigning on federal clean-energy investment, green union jobs and climate accountability.
Emily Atkins of Heated reported that the oil and gas industry spent at least $182m trying to elect Republicans. The midterms were an expensive and unsuccessful campaign for Elon Musk as well as the industry, according to the report.
Deb Haaland won the New Mexico governor’s race, becoming the country’s first female Native American governor. As Joe Biden’s interior secretary, Haaland integrated climate science and Indigenous knowledge into department policies and established a task force to accelerate renewable-energy development on public lands. She supports the Green New Deal and opposed the Keystone XL pipeline.
Gina Hinojosa won the Texas governor’s race, replacing Republican Greg Abbott, who had served since 2015. After hundreds of people died in the 2021 polar vortex, Hinojosa advocated a Texas climate plan intended to reduce emissions and prevent climate disasters. Texas has the highest carbon emissions of any state.
Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Georgia governor’s race, becoming the country’s first Black woman governor after campaigning to slow and reassess datacenter expansion to ease utility bills. As Atlanta’s mayor, Bottoms testified before Congress about the climate crisis and committed the city to 100% clean energy by 2035.
Amy Acton won the Ohio governor’s race after a campaign centered on datacenters and utility bills. Acton promised a conditional moratorium on datacenters and the appointment of public-utilities commissioners focused on lowering consumer costs. She supports nuclear, fossil-fuel and solar energy, although restrictive state law SB52 limits solar expansion.
Nine states held elections for state utility commissioners, who oversee energy bills and datacenters. Georgia’s Public Service Commission changed from Republican to Democratic control on Tuesday night. Since 2022, the average Georgia residential power bill has risen by $43 per month, or $516 per year, partly because of datacenter growth.
Voters in Eugene, Oregon, approved the Eugene Clean Energy Fund, which places a 2% fee on corporations including Amazon and Walmart and directs the proceeds toward renewable energy and clean-energy job training. The measure is expected to generate at least $15m annually beginning no later than 2030. It was based on the 2018 Portland Clean Energy Fund, which has invested $1.7bn in climate and clean energy in Portland.
In Michigan, voters approved an El-Sayed-backed measure prohibiting state-regulated electric and gas utilities such as DTE Energy from contributing to campaigns of candidates who oversee them. A separate measure seeking to replace investor-owned DTE with a public utility narrowly failed. The proposal was part of a broader public-power movement that seeks to lower utility bills by replacing investor-owned utilities with public utilities.