Skyrocketing electricity prices are poised to become a key issue in the run-up to the November midterm elections as both Democrats and Republicans try to claim the mantle as the party best equipped to address the affordability crisis.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show energy prices have risen during President Donald Trump’s first year in office. Between January 2025 and January 2026, the price of electricity rose 6.3%, while piped natural gas increased by 9.8%. In the same period, the price of gasoline dropped 7.5% — something the White House has been eager to highlight.
“At the gas pump, fuel prices are down by almost 10% over the past year,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday. “The average national price for a gallon of regular gas is now less than $3 and is approaching $2.70 in some states, and much lower than that in many states across the country as well.”
Yet, there is evidence Republicans know that lowering prices at the pump are not enough to convince voters the affordability crisis has peaked. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and senior members of the Trump Cabinet huddled to discuss midterm election strategy in Washington this week. Dominating the conversation was how to address the cost of living and better sell the president’s accomplishments — something Trump himself will do on the road during a Thursday trip to Georgia.
“Republicans have to remind people that the reason why we’re in this mess is because we went too fast, too much in the direction of renewables and overregulation, and now we’re getting back to sanity and putting forward a common-sense plan,” said Vince Galko, a veteran Republican strategist in Pennsylvania.
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But experts also told the Washington Examiner that lowering energy prices will require not just time — which will extend beyond November — but also bipartisan compromise, which appears unwilling to happen in the near future.
“If someone with amazing leadership can come up with a real compromise where we could somehow increase conservation, while we increase production, the problem could be solved within a few years,” said Brian Kirwin, a Virginia GOP strategist. “But no one wants to take even a baby step in that direction from either side.”
It’s not just households feeling the pinch. A recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found that 80% of small business owners say energy prices significantly affected their business.
Democrats are trying to capitalize on the problem. Last year, the party won open-seat gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia by attributing the rise in electricity bills to artificial intelligence data centers.
Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is using the same strategy this year in his campaign against Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio. The Buckeye State is home to 195 data centers. Brown is campaigning on having tech companies “eat all the increased costs — not small businesses, not customers,” according to Channel 21 News.
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“We’re seeing a movement in Ohio to put a moratorium on the building of data centers until this is figured out, because residential rate payers are annoyed at even the perception that they are going to need to have to pick up the bill for major corporations,” Ohio GOP strategist Matt Dole said.
Yet, despite the efforts of Democrats such as Brown, neither party locked down on the issue ahead of November. A recent Politico poll showed 37% of public adults said Democrats are more concerned about protecting them from rising energy prices compared to 25% who said Republicans were more concerned.
Trump, for his part, is taking a flurry of actions on the topic. Last week, the president signed an executive order committing the federal government to multiple long-term agreements for purchasing electricity generated by coal.
“We’re gonna be buying a lot of coal through the military now, and it’s going to be less expensive and actually much more effective than what we have been using for many, many years,” Trump said. “More coal means lower costs and more money in the pocket of American citizens.”
The White House is also harping on Democratic governors and legislatures in blue states for “still doubling down on Joe Biden’s failed and costly Green New Scam policies.”
“However, there’s only so much that can be done at the federal level,” Leavitt said. “That’s why the president has called on blue state governors to participate in this energy dominance agenda, including governors in New England in the northeast. By contacting Gov. (Kathy) Hochul (D-NY) directly to get this constitution pipeline underway.”
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The emphasis may not be enough, however. Voters tend to punish the party in power for the state of the economy, even if unfairly, especially in a midterm election when the president is not on the ballot.
“You’ve got this general perception that if I want to blame somebody for all these problems, sort of general price escalation and environment degradation, whatever else goes with that, the easiest thing to do is just to vote against whoever is in charge at the moment,” said Mack Shelley, a political scientist at Iowa State University.