Voters went to the polls and sent control of both houses of Congress and a majority of US governorships to the Democratic Party, many candidates of which ran on electricity affordability, opposition to data centers and support for clean energy.

“The 2026 midterms marked the first election where utility bills were a defining issue at the national level,” said Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines. “Utility bills used to be a bipartisan issue in that both parties ignored them. Now, utility bills are bipartisan in that neither party can.”

Utilities requested a record $31 billion in rate increases in 2025, according to PowerLines. This is double the previous record. Through the first three quarters of 2026 they have requested another $23.1 billion, including $4.5 billion in the third quarter alone, the highest third quarter on record. Investor-owned utilities plan to spend $1.4 trillion on capital projects through 2030.

According to a PowerLines poll conducted by Ipsos in March, 76 percent of Americans want government officials to provide stronger oversight of utilities.

Michganders selected Abdul El-Sayed to be their senator elect. El-Sayed made data center opposition and electricity affordability cornerstones of his campaign, accusing his opponent of investing millions in the data center boom, resulting in higher bills for Michigan ratepayers.

In Texas, James Talarico won a senate seat. On his campaign website, Talarico called for creating more jobs in the oil, gas, wind, solar and battery energy storage sectors by creating new jobs in cutting-edge technologies like geothermal and hydrogen-fueled energy. 

“We can pioneer innovative ways to streamline permitting processes without compromising the protection of our environment — so that Texas can lead in increasing energy supply and driving down costs,” Talarico said.

Also in Texas, the election of Gina Hinojosa as Governor marks a significant shift in data center policy, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Texas will remain a market leader for data center investment given its renewable resources, natural gas infrastructure and regulatory autonomy from FERC, but the new governor will push for new constraints on speed to power in Texas.

In Maine, another flipped seat for Democrats was won by Troy Jackson, who blamed Sen. Susan Collins for high electricity rates and a lack of action on aging state infrastructure.

“I am very much in favor of making sure the federal government or the state of Maine puts guardrails on these things because I don’t want the billionaires, again, writing the rules and making our communities worse off than they are right now,” Jackson said about data centers during an October 13 debate, according to Newsweek.

In North Carolina, Roy Cooper defeated Michael Watley for a Senate seat. On his website, Cooper called for cutting energy costs to consumers by encouraging big technology companies to provide their own power, and making sure data centers pay the full cost of the power they use.

In Ohio, Amy Acton beat Vivek Ramaswamy for the governorship. Acton favors cost-saving programs such as energy assistance programs, weatherization assistance as well as working with the other PJM Interconnection states to deliver more reliable power.

“Our energy bills are too high. Last summer, our electric bill went up $140 in one month – and I know I’m not the only Ohioan who felt that. As governor, I will fight to lower your bills, put consumers first and build an energy strategy that works for all of us,” Acton said on her campaign website. “I’ll lower energy bills for Ohioans by enhancing production and incorporating the lowest-cost and cleanest sources of energy.”

Voters in nine states voted for public utility commissioners. In Georgia, the public service commission changed hands from Republicans to Democrats. Commissioner Peter Hubbard ran as a consumer watchdog with an emphasis on affordability.

“We're in a time of expansion. We are building out new power generation, new transmission, over 1000 miles of new transmission and over 1100 miles of rebuild transmission in Georgia. And it's largely a function of the data centers that are coming to the state,” Hubbard told T&D World in an interview before the election.

One factor that is animating the race was the six rate increases over the last few years. Those rate increases increased the average bill by about $52 per month, according to Hubbard.

“That certainly brought into the public's attention the question of affordability,” he said. “Data centers that are coming to the state that will put pressure on bills one way or the other going forward, but also those rate increases that we had in the recent past that brought us to where we are today.”

Hubbard said the PSC moving to Democratic control could have some far-reaching consequences.

“There's a lot of things that just have gone on underscrutinized or unscrutinized at the commission. You know, for example, having investor-owned utilities come in to justify the rates that they're charging. We didn't have an electric rate case last year and we haven't had a gas rate case in over a decade. And, you know, there's probably some issues there that need addressing,” he said.

Hubbard called data centers a number one issue for Georgia voters, adding that many have chosen the state as a site for new projects hoping to capitalize on low electricity rates as well as generous subsidies offered by state and local governments.

“Folks are not terribly pleased with data centers being plopped down in their neighborhoods, oftentimes without really any meaningful engagement with the community beforehand,” he said.

“My chief concern is that, number one, in this state, we are building the wrong resources for data centers,” he said, adding he would like to see more solar, wind and energy storage resources being built to fuel data centers. Meanwhile, Georgia Power, he said, is focusing mostly on gas-fired power and batteries.

Permitting reform, subsidies for renewable energy and large-load cost rules are each likely moves for a newly Democratic controlled Congress.

Supported by key Senate architects and a coalition of clean energy developers, oil and gas producers, mining operators and trade unions, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) could speed up infrastructure approvals, according to Wood Mackenzie.

"While we see the likelihood for permitting reform, how policy is legislated and implemented remains a risk to the US economy," said David Brown, Director, global integrated energy research for Wood Mackenzie. "Entrenched partisanship could fuel policy stagnation and regulatory confusion."

There are echoes in the results of election day of the Obama era, and potential could exist for reforms.

"The US has had moments of bipartisanship when it needed them most. Twenty years ago, Democrats took Congress amid an unpopular US-led war in the Middle East, resulting in deep partisan gridlock," Brown continued. "But the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 raised Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, set lighting and appliance efficiency standards and expanded renewable fuels with bipartisan support. A similar effort is needed now to build affordable energy at home and for the US to keep global leadership in AI."

Key initiatives within BAAJA include mandates for environmental impact studies under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), preventing federal agencies from revoking permits, limiting litigation after project approvals are granted, and requiring a timeline for evaluating water quality for new gas pipelines.

"Without reform, midstream bottlenecks are likely to return, stifling upstream investment and pushing regional gas and power prices higher, most acutely in the power-hungry Northeast," said Siddhant Warrier, research analyst, North American power for Wood Mackenzie. "Prolonged pipeline delays would also slow data center development, a high priority for both parties."

The Restoring Renewable Energy Parity Act would require the Defense Department to sign mitigation agreements for pending wind, solar and transmission projects and overturn executive actions targeting renewables. However the president has disapproved of this act directly and maintains veto power.

"The wind industry's best bet for permitting reform is to be included in a national bill across multiple technologies and to have Congress monitor implementation," said Warrier.