ICYMI: The New York Times: ‘The New Price of Eggs.’ The Political Shocks of Data Centers and Electric Bills

New data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that household electricity prices have risen 13% since Donald Trump took office 

Washington, DC – As voters increasingly cite electricity prices as a top concern, Donald Trump and Republicans are taking a sledgehammer to clean energy projects across the country, jacking up costs even higher. Newly released data from the EIA shows that electricity prices have risen by 13% under Trump’s watch. 

Democrats swept the 2025 election by centering affordability and holding Republicans accountable for their reckless energy policies that are making life more expensive for Americans. Last month, voters in Georgia, Virginia, and New Jersey sent a clear message that as prices continue to rise, energy costs will be a political liability for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections. 

The New York Times: ‘The New Price of Eggs.’ The Political Shocks of Data Centers and Electric Bills

As loyal Republicans, Reece Payton said that he and his family of cattle ranchers in Hogansville, Ga., had one thing on their minds when they cast their ballots in November for the state’s utility board — “to make a statement.”

They were already irked by their escalating electric bills, not to mention an extra $50 a month levied by their local utility to cover a new nuclear power plant more than 200 miles away. But after they heard a data center might be built next to their Logos Ranch, about 60 miles southwest of Atlanta, they had enough of Republicans who seemed far too receptive to the interests of the booming artificial intelligence industry.

“That’s the first time I ever voted Democrat,” Mr. Payton, 58, said.

Message sent.

In some of Georgia’s reddest and most rural counties, Republicans crossed party lines this month and helped propel two Democrats, Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson, to landslide upsets, ousting the incumbent candidates on the Georgia Public Service Commission. No Democrat has served on the five-person commission, which regulates utilities and helps set climate and energy policy, since 2007.

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.

Strong opposition by citizens forced the Tucson City Council in August to pull the plug on an Amazon data center slated for that Arizona city, and then in September forced Google to call off one in Indianapolis.

“Electricity is the new price of eggs,” said Charles Hua, executive director of Powerlines, a nonpartisan organization which aims to modernize utility regulations and reduce power bills. “This is a defining moment for politicians of all stripes — what’s your answer to lowering utility bills? Because I think consumers and voters are looking for leadership on this.”

After meeting recently with Virginia legislators, Mr. Hua said he was struck by how “the nexus of data centers and utility bills actually came up very consistently.”

In 2022, a spike in natural gas prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine fueled a rise in energy costs around the U.S. Utilities have also undertaken costly projects to modernize the power grid and improve the infrastructure to guard against extreme weather and absorb an anticipated surge in demand from data centers.

As the price of electricity has risen, more American customers have fallen behind on their utility bills, or have had their power cut off.

Georgia ranks 35th in energy affordability, in part because of cost overruns and delays associated with its new Plant Vogtle nuclear generators in Waynesboro, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, an influential conservative policy group.

So it wasn’t a surprise when Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — candidates in the Republican primary to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp — called November’s results a referendum on affordability. “You’re a fool if you don’t recognize that,” Mr. Carr said…

At a weekly food pantry run by South Street Care House in Valdosta, Ga., where dozens of cars had lined up to receive a box full of fresh fruits, vegetables, breads and other staples, several people said they had heard about the election through texts and social media.

Barbara Lehman, 66, is typically a reliable Republican, but not this time, according to her daughter Angela and granddaughter Shelby, who were among those waiting for food.

“If the power companies want to expand their business, then that should be on them, not the consumer,” Ms. Lehman said in a text message. “Some people are just barely making it as it is.”…

Data centers have been a prominent issue in Atlanta’s rural exurbs. Mr. Trump wants to accelerate their growth in the battle for A.I. supremacy. At least 26 are under construction within 60 miles of Atlanta, and another 52 are planned…

In Troup County on the Alabama border, the victorious Democratic utility candidates whittled 24-point romps enjoyed by the Republican candidates in 2020 and 2018 down to 10, thanks to voters like the Paytons.

The Paytons had never been to a Hogansville City Council meeting before they heard about a proposal to build a data center on 437 acres next to their ranch, and across from their Georgia Untamed Zoo, which houses animals like sloths and capybaras and is popular with school field trips. Now they’ve been to two, and counting.

Mr. Payton and his wife, Tina, stressed that they didn’t mind data centers, as long as they were placed in industrial areas, and the public had input. But in nearby LaGrange, Ga., he noted, residents were blindsided by an $8 billion project now under construction.

So when a Democratic candidate for Congress recently posted on the Troup County Anti-Data Center Coalition’s Facebook page pledging to be “an ally in this fight,” Tina Payton urged her to attend an upcoming Hogansville forum on the issue.

“I blame Trump for what’s happening here, because Trump is pushing the data center,” Mr. Payton said. “Kemp jumped on the bandwagon, and these guys that were in there were doing nothing more than what Kemp was telling them.”

Also attending the council meeting was Chance Williams, 56, who owns an auto repair business a half mile down the road from the Paytons, within earshot of the zoo’s cackling lemurs.

During a tour of the data center’s footprint in his truck, Mr. Williams described himself and his wife Barbara, 58, as common-sense conservatives who treasure rural rhythms.

“I want to hear the crickets when I go to bed, not the hum of a fan up the road,” Ms. Williams said.

When voting for the utility races started on Oct. 14, she automatically chose the Republicans. Then she and her husband learned about the data center.

“We probably voted wrong,” she said.