Georgia voters make energy costs a priority in midterm elections

Georgia voters placed energy costs as a top priority for them during the midterm elections, and their votes made an impact.

A national coalition of climate and environmental groups invested more than $125 million to target swing voters concerned about high utility bills.

Lori Lodes is the president of the advocacy group Climate Power. She said Georgia’s results showed the strategy worked.

“Look at Georgia. Voters elected a Democratic majority to the Public Service Commission for the first time in decades, the very commission that helps decide what families pay for electricity. Accountability reached all the way to the officials setting their rates,” Lodes said.

The Georgia Public Service Commission regulates Georgia Power and other utilities making decisions that impact the cost of natural gas and electricity for families. 

Georgia Power spokesperson Meredith Stone said the company congratulated the newly elected commissioners and looked forward to working with them.

The coalition said it invested heavily in, what they call, energy bill voters, or people concerned about rising utility costs and who consider themselves to be moderate or independent.

Pete Maysmith is the president of the League of Conservation Voters. He said energy bill voters made a difference this election cycle.

“This was a wave, and what that means is that where we went on offense, deep into Trump territory, and where the margins were razor thin, that Energy Bill voters who we targeted made the difference, and this movement played a really big role in making that happen,” Maysmith said.

Maysmith said the coalition won at least nine of their 12 priority House races and seven of their 12 priority state races. The group ran programs in 35 House districts total, 31 of which President Donald Trump won in 2024. Maysmith said the victory proved that voters across the country are fed up with high energy prices.