Are You Going To Do Something

We can't have elections going back and forth between political parties claiming to be able to solve "affordability" and then not doing it. It is a problem that "affordaility" is not one thing and there is not one magic "affordability" button. Energy prices are one simple thing to focus on, but even if the follow through on these promises (they had better!) they are just one thing.

Across the country, Democrats have seized on rising anxiety over electricity costs and data centers in what could be a template for the 2026 midterm elections.

In Virginia, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger pledged during her campaign to lower energy bills and make data centers pay more. In the House of Delegates, one Democratic challenger unseated a Republican incumbent by focusing on curbing the proliferation of data centers in Loudoun County and the exurbs of the nation’s capital.

In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill promised to declare a state of emergency on utility costs and freeze rates. And in Memphis, State Representative Justin J. Pearson, who is challenging Representative Steve Cohen in a high-profile Democratic primary next year, has vowed to fight a supercomputer by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, that would be located in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

A nontrivial chunk of the party (hi, Senator Gillibrand) are tech shills and there are going to be some conflicts