MEMO: Energy affordability is driving Michigan voters to the polls this election

TO: Interested Parties

FROM: Tom Lenard, Climate Power Michigan Director

DATE: Wednesday, October 28, 2026

RE: Energy affordability is driving Michigan voters to the polls this election

In 2024, Trump and Republicans promised to cut energy costs in half. Instead, Trump and Michigan Republicans tried to ban cheaper, clean energy, entered a costly war in Iran, and paved the way for rapid data center expansion with no guardrails, all of which have led to skyrocketing gas and utility prices, while worsening air and water quality and slowing economic growth. Over the past year, energy affordability has become a top issue for voters struggling to choose between filling up their gas tanks, heating and cooling their homes, and putting food on the table for their families. Voters aren’t happy, and they’re set to make their voices heard at the polls on November 3rd.

Trump and Republicans’ policies are costing Michiganders

• Michigan monopoly utilities are requesting hundreds of millions in rate increases, the average Michigan family was projected to spend nearly $655 on cooling costs this summer, and utility bills are up 24% since Trump and congressional Republicans took over. 
• Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” supported by every Michigan Republican, included billions in tax breaks for data centers. Data center development is contributing to utilities planning to build $10 billion in gas power plants that add to air pollution.
• Between higher gas prices, utility bills, and tariffs, Trump has cost the average Michigan family an extra $2,018 since he took office, and by the end of the year, that total could grow to $3,108.

Energy affordability dominated news cycles 

• In Michigan, the price of energy is on the ballot and both parties know it
  • For voters like Alexis Jones of Lansing, the debate comes down to a number on an envelope. His utility bill is “almost $400,” he said. “It’s terrible. And not only do I have to look out for me, but I’ve got little munchkins, grandkids, to look after. And things are out of control.
• Rising energy costs could shape key Michigan races this November
  • Rising electric bills, eye-popping gasoline prices and pitched local battles over energy-intensive data centers have put energy affordability at the center of the November election in Michigan.
• Rep. Bill Huizenga’s votes show he put data centers and coal plants over cons
  • Experts say this data center construction, along with powering the data centers once they’re built, won’t just strain the area’s electrical supply. It’ll also strain Michiganders’ wallets, with expected yearly utility bills rising by $300. This is expected to further impact low-income Michiganders, who are already reeling after Huizenga and other Republicans supported a 2025 appropriations bill that eliminated federal funding for a Department of Energy program that helped their households increase energy efficiency and reduce energy bills.
• Michigan congressman Tom Barrett in the crosshairs of gas price politics
  • Local Democrats, farmers and activists gathered at a gas station outside Lansing to protest high fuel and fertilizer prices and call for an end to the war. “Tom Barrett + Iran War and We Pay,” read the sign carried by one protester. “Got Gas Pains? Vote Democrat for Relief,” read another.

Rising costs drive votes

• In battleground states, 86% of voters say their utility bills are going up, and energy costs are now tied with housing as the second-biggest financial concern facing families. A Michigan survey found that double (42%) the amount of respondents would back a candidate that opposed Trump’s policies on energy versus one (21%) who supported them.
• Research found that since January, the share of voters seriously concerned about gas prices has more than doubled, while concern about electricity costs is up 10 points. 58% of voters say congressional Republicans are making energy prices worse, compared to just 22% who say better.
• Poll after poll have found that voters realize Trump’s policies are driving energy prices higher.

Behind the money

• Trump has made as much as $21 million from his oil and gas investments since the start of the Iran war, bragging about the money these companies are making as Michiganders pay the price at the pump.
• Mike Rogers is being bankrolled by Elon Musk while vowing to “protect” him, and has received more than $210,000 from Big Oil and Gas and utilities this cycle. Rogers is also benefitting from $5 million being dumped into a super PAC supporting him from a wealthy Texas oil tycoon.
• Elon Musk is also spending big to support Tom Barrett, just like he did in 2024. As one of the developers of some of the dirtiest data centers in the country, Musk stands to make even more money off the tax breaks Barrett voted for and would benefit from the ban on state and local AI regulations that Barrett also approved.
• While Trump forces dirty coal plants in Huizenga’s district to stay open at the expense of Michigan families and utilities keep hiking rates, he has raked in hundreds of thousands in donations from oil, gas, and utility interests.

Trump promised to cut energy costs in half. Instead, he and congressional Republicans — who passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — gutted clean energy investment and tilted the playing field toward expensive oil and gas, just as demand is exploding due to the proliferation of data centers. Michiganders are paying the price, and they’ve had enough of politicians enriching themselves as they struggle to afford their energy bills. 

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