Energy affordability tops voter concerns in election set to shake up Congress — SkimNews
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- Pew Research Center found in an Oct. 8 poll that 74% of U.S. adults were concerned about gasoline and energy prices — the largest share of concern among all issues surveyed — as all 435 House seats, one-third of the Senate and 36 gubernatorial seats are contested.
- Jon Ossoff and Mike Collins traded accusations over data centers in Georgia's Oct. 8 Senate debate: Collins tied Ossoff to a "data center billionaire" donor and promised to protect Georgians from having their electricity infrastructure "destroyed," while Ossoff said the OBBBA contains a "data center tax scam."
- David Crowley proposed requiring Wisconsin data centers to be powered with renewable energy and setting a 2050 net-zero goal; Republican Tom Tiffany opposed data centers, solar and wind farms on Wisconsin farmland, the Wisconsin Examiner reported.
- Vivek Ramaswamy promised free electricity for Ohio residents living near data centers, while Amy Acton proposed a conditional moratorium on projects that fail certain requirements — stakes raised by the fact the next governor appoints the full Ohio Public Utilities Commission slate.
- Josh Shapiro faced criticism for pressuring Pennsylvania utilities over rate hikes, while opponent Stacy Garrity proposed eliminating the state tax on electricity and intervening in utility rate cases; Shapiro was among the PJM governors who threatened in 2025 to pull their states out of the grid operator's markets.
- OBBBA shortened the horizons of some Inflation Reduction Act clean-energy credits in 2025; Heather Cooper of McDermott Will & Schulte said a flipped Congress would mean "a dramatic turn" on federal energy tax credits, and Carl Fleming said some projects already pencil out without credits and expects a solar credit extension because solar "took a good hit."
- Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, negotiated between Republicans and Democrats and announced in September, would speed federal permitting and expand FERC's power to clear transmission obstacles; Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse warned in October the deal could be blown up by the Trump administration's moves to revoke offshore wind farm permits, and consumer and clean energy advocates say it favors oil and gas and weakens environmental laws.
Why it matters: Developers told Crux that predictability, not ideology, is what they need from Washington, and many projects now pencil out under 1-to-4-year credit horizons rather than the IRA's long runway. With 74% of adults flagging energy prices, a Democratic House makes the OBBBA's shortened clean-energy credits a live target for revision.
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