The most pivotal midterm races for energy

OCTOBER 30, 2026 | This week on the site: The midterms races and ballot initiatives we're watching, reflections from FlexSummit, and the problems with onsite gas power.

CATHERINE BOUDREAU | MAEVE ALLSUP | An energy crisis, high inflation, and a war with Iran. It’s like we’re reliving the early 1980s, except with the arrival of artificial intelligence. Not since President Jimmy Carter’s failed reelection bid has energy affordability been such a defining issue.

Ahead of the midterms on Tuesday, candidates across the political spectrum have leaned into it as a core campaign message.

They are promising relief from high energy costs, but disagree about how to deliver it and what guardrails should be slapped on data centers to help do so. The results of Tuesday’s midterm elections — from gubernatorial and congressional races to state ballot measures and public utility commissions — will shape how the country navigates one of the most contentious eras in energy policy in decades.

In a stark shift from the Green New Deal era of 2020, many Democrats are pitching wind and solar less as a climate solution, and more as an affordability and energy security priority. They also pitch clean energy as a faster way to build new generation to meet skyrocketing demand for electricity, driven largely by AI data centers. While climate isn't entirely off the ballot, affordability dominates virtually every race. Tuesday’s elections are the first national test of whether that affordability-first approach is landing.

Voters will also consider whether to rein in monopoly utilities, which are in the middle of a $1.5 trillion spending spree. As one policy expert told us, “utility accountability” and “community power” are major themes this election cycle, showing up in particular on state and local ballot initiatives.

And of course, debates over data centers are front and center. In the last year or so, the fight has moved beyond whether developers should pay their own way, to what enforcing that actually looks like. Gubernatorial candidates in key battleground states are pitching mandates that would determine how projects are powered, what other investments they owe communities and, in some cases, whether projects move forward at all.

Those themes are playing out in races across the country next week. We’ve narrowed in on some races and ballot initiatives to watch closely. We're highlighting a handful below, but for the full list head to the site.

Clean energy as an affordability solution

Michigan: Republican John James and Democrat Jocelyn Benson are at odds over whether clean energy is raising utility bills, or a solution to lower them. PowerLines found bills are up $34.32 in the state since 2021. Current Michigan law requires utilities to get all their electricity from clean sources by 2040. James has vowed to repeal the clean energy mandate to bring down electricity costs, while Benson argues investing in more clean energy infrastructure and curbing “profit-driven rate hikes” is the way to lower energy bills.

Colorado’s Amendment 82: would enshrine a right to purchase and sell natural gas for cooking and heating into the state’s constitution, potentially blocking state and local electrification mandates. Its backer, conservative nonprofit Advance Colorado, says efforts to reduce emissions from gas heating will increase costs for consumers.

Utility accountability

Georgia PUC elections: For the first time in three decades, the state’s five-member PUC could flip to Democratic control. The party needs to gain one seat to secure a 3-2 majority, which would mean that Democratic incumbent Peter Hubbard wins reelection and Shelia Edwards defeats Republican Josh Tolbert.

Guardrails for data centers

Wisconsin: Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley wants to require data center developers to provide 100% renewable energy, and to cover all the costs for infrastructure and grid upgrades. Republican candidate Tom Tiffany argues relying on solar, wind, and batteries for data centers will use too much farmland and drive up costs.

Ohio: Both Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy want data centers to bring their own power generation, but differ on what else developers should pay for. Ramaswamy is promising “free electricity” for households near a new data center, arguing companies should build their own power plants and use surplus energy to offset residents’ costs. That benefit, however, would only cover the generation portion of residents’ bills, rather than transmission and distribution charges.

Storylines of the week

Reflections from the first annual Flex Summit:

Has the industry been talking about distributed capacity all wrong?

MAEVE ALLSUP | LiveDistributed megawatts are slower and more expensive, says Sparkfund CEO Pier LaFarge. Hyperscalers should deploy them anyway.

How residential VPPs can cross the ‘credibility gap’

MAEVE ALLSUP | Residential aggregators say they can help meet load growth. But have they really overcome historical barriers to scale?

The data center flexibility debate

LISA MARTINE JENKINS | The industry’s progress is being hampered by the table stakes definition: What do we mean when we say “flexible”?

🎧 A new era for grid flexibility?

OPEN CIRCUIT | Live from Flex Summit: Two VPP champions and a utility executive debate how to harvest the grid’s hidden capacity.

The challenges of onsite power

The cracks in the AI race for gas power

CATHERINE BOUDREAU | From cracked gas turbines to volatile fuel prices, developers are discovering the risks of running behind-the-meter power plants.

🎧 The new landscape for gas turbines

CATALYST WITH SHAYLE KANN | Dora Partners & Company president Tony Brough returns to the show to map out the exploding OEM market.