Energy is on the ballot...and this is exactly why

For decades, energy policy lived mostly in the background of American politics—important, but rarely decisive at the ballot box. After the 2025 election season, we have evidence of how that’s no longer the case. Rising electricity bills frustrating voters, visible grid strain they want to point to data centers as the culprit, and an overall competing narratives around affordability and climate policy have pushed energy squarely into the center of electoral politics. In this episode, host Kinsey Grant Baker welcomes back a guest who was featured on one of 2025 hottest episodes of Power Perspectives: Andrea Clabough, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. In this conversation, Clabough unpacks what the most recent state-level elections reveal about how voters are thinking about energy—and what those lessons signal for the 2026 midterm elections that are already coming into focus. Clabough reflects on the 2025 gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, where energy affordability, grid readiness, and future investment strategies emerged as unexpectedly salient themes, as well as how the first year under Trump 2.0 played out compared with her previous predictions. For anyone who already has November 3, 2026, circled on their calendars, this conversation will serve as your primer for which races to watch, what external factors could influence outcomes, and what the dominant energy narrative may be once the electoral dust settles. AI across AC (AIxAC) initiative: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/issue/artificial-intelligence/ Signup for the Energy Central Daily Newsletter: https://energycentral.beehiiv.com/subscribe