Rising utility bills, gas prices and concerns about climate change helped shape the midterm elections, according to environmental advocates who said voters are demanding cleaner, more affordable energy.

In Wisconsin, advocates said Democratic victories in key races are creating new opportunities for climate policy to respond, including Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley being elected the state's first Black governor. Crowley has pledged to give local communities the final say over data center projects.

Lori Lodes, president of the advocacy group Climate Power, said development of the facilities became an important part of the affordability debate in Wisconsin and nationwide, as communities questioned the pollution and electricity costs associated with powering them.

"Basically every sitting Dem governor or governor-elect embraced clean energy as a key guardrail against data center pollution," Lodes pointed out.

Wisconsin Democrats also secured a political trifecta, with winning the governor's office and flipping both chambers of the Legislature for the first time since 2010. Notably, Democrat Rebecca Cooke defeated Republican incumbent Derrick Van Orden in the competitive 3rd Congressional District. Both Cooke and Crowley have embraced clean energy as an economic and environmental priority. Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany supported extending the life of coal and natural gas plants and opposed wind and solar development on farmland.

With Democrats now running state government, Wisconsin advocates see an opportunity to advance policies supporting clean, cost-effective energy.

Pete Maysmith. president of the League of Conservation Voters, said election outcomes in Wisconsin give clean-energy supporters a stronger voice at both the state and federal levels.

"The new majorities that support more affordable clean energy in the House, the Senate, and in state houses and governors' mansions around the country are fantastic news for everyone fighting for climate progress," Maysmith asserted.

Environmental advocates acknowledged Democrats cannot reverse the Trump administration's energy policies overnight, especially without veto-proof majorities in Congress but argued the new political landscape creates opportunities for greater oversight of federal actions and progress on clean energy at the state level.

"The repudiation of the Trump attacks on clean energy are loud and clear and the cry for cheaper, faster American-made clean energy that allows us to tackle the climate crisis and to help people in their everyday lives. It's just sitting there now," Maysmith added.

Source: Public News Service