As energy prices rise, Senate candidates clash over clean power future

High costs of fuel and utilities, ideas for affordability dominate US Senate candidates’ energy policy plans
Democrats see renewables as the path forward for cheaper energy. Republicans don’t want a repeat of Biden-era energy investments
Iran war, clean energy jobs, energy diversification and increased domestic production among issues candidates are watching

Five years ago, as then-President Joe Biden pushed for what would become $369 billion in federal spending to fight climate change, Abdul El-Sayed made the case for prioritizing minority communities hit hardest by pollution.

Citing historically redlined neighborhoods in Detroit, where he had served as health director, El-Sayed called the climate fight an “opportunity to demonstrate exactly how social policy and public policy can lead with and center those who have been harmed in the past.”

Now, as he runs for US Senate on a progressive platform, Republicans are likening his past comments to “reparations,” arguing he and fellow Democrats in the high-stakes race would raise energy prices by restarting a clean energy push that President Donald Trump has worked aggressively to undo.

“Abdul El-Sayed’s radical Green New Scam fantasy would destroy Michigan’s auto industry, kill thousands of jobs, and drive costs even higher for hardworking families,” said Hunter Lovell, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, echoing attacks Trump used in his winning 2024 campaign.

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El-Sayed, who publicly advocated for the Green New Deal in 2019, hasn’t made clean energy a top priority in this year’s US Senate campaign, where he has more frequently called to get “money out of politics, money in your pocket and Medicare for All.”

But speaking with Bridge Michigan, the former Wayne County Health Director said he still sees big investments in clean energy as a ticket out of “problematic systems,” as well as a pathway to relieve one of residents’ biggest recurring concerns: the hit to their pocketbooks.

Mural on a brick building depicts two people beside the words “Pollution Has No Boundaries,” along a residential street in Detroit. — A mural painted by University of Michigan students sits at the corner of Electric Street and Visger Street in the 48217 neighborhood. The area has been called the most polluted zip code in Michigan. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

“We need 100% renewable energy, and we need it yesterday,” El-Sayed said, calling recent price hikes tied to the Iran war an important reminder that the US remains “uniquely susceptible” without it.

“If we are serious about investing in the technologies that buy us out of this pollution, a lot of these things also over time can actually reduce our prices, too,” he continued.

Fellow Democratic contenders Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow have also linked their 2026 energy messaging to affordability in their US Senate campaigns, placing blame on the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions and rollback of major Biden-era clean energy investments and tax credits.

“There is a moment now, an opportunity…to really reframe the argument on clean energy,” McMorrow said. “This is a freedom issue, it’s a cost issue. People are crying out for their bills to be lowered, and we are on the precipice of being able to do exactly that.”

In a recent debate hosted by the Council of Baptist Pastors, Stevens said the job creation opportunities associated with clean energy investment has the potential to address environmental injustice and offer the state a “sustainable future.”

Mike Rogers, the lone Republican in the race for the open seat, maintains that insistence on renewables is a key contributor to Michigan’s high energy costs. He’s defended the Trump administration’s energy policies and argues party leaders are working to “institutionally make sure that prices are going down” once the ongoing conflict subsides.

As gas prices hover well above $4 per gallon and utility costs continue to climb, observers say the affordability framing on energy may be an effective message to voters in this year’s midterm elections.

“Maybe it’s not a traditional environmental air, land, and water issue, but there are really strong intersections on how we get our energy and how that impacts the environment and how much we pay for on our energy bills,” said Nick Dodge, senior director of programs for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

An energy about face

In Congress, Stevens was a staunch supporter of Biden-era investments in green manufacturing buildouts, clean energy tax credits and incentives designed to spur electric vehicle parts production and get more US consumers into EVs.

Since Trump returned to office last year, federal energy policy has shifted drastically as his administration scrapped climate programs, divested in renewable options, eliminated EV tax credits and threw support behind fossil fuel-based manufacturing and power generation.

Michigan lost out on $4.1 billion in planned clean manufacturing investments that impacted 11,700 anticipated jobs, according to a February 2026 analysis by national research firm Atlas Public Policy. Additionally, roughly $540 million in climate-related grants to Michigan were canceled or delayed in 2025.

Among the canceled federal grants: $156 million in funds that were slated to help low-income Michigan residents fund solar panel installations in their homes.

Additionally, the Trump administration has ordered Consumers Energy to keep the JH Campbell coal plant in West Michigan open well past its planned retirement date, a move Attorney General Dana Nessel and other critics contend is costlier than shifting to more efficient energy plans.

“We have been set back, and the Michigan ratepayer has really been set back,” Stevens told Bridge.

Three Michigan candidates stand at podiums during a debate at the Mackinac Policy Conference, with their names displayed on signs against a blue stage backdrop. — Mallory McMorrow, Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed share stage in Democratic US Senate debate at the Mackinac Policy Conference. (Simon Schuster/Bridge Michigan)

Like her Democratic opponents, Stevens believes ending the war in Iran would take some of the immediate pressure off residents. Long term, she’s pushing for energy diversification and continued innovation in the manufacturing center, noting she doesn’t want to lose the “global race” to China or other nations.

Stevens last year voted against a GOP bill to stop a California law mandating 100% green vehicle sales by 2035 but said she opposed that state’s policy because it would hurt Michigan manufacturers.

There were downsides to the Biden administration’s EV manufacturing push that “got the auto industry out over its skis,” said Ed Rivet, executive director of the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum.

Market demands for electric vehicles, limited by factors like high purchase prices and range anxiety, haven’t matched policymakers’ initial high hopes, prompting automakers to shift plans away from major electric vehicle investments, he said.

“At least in the energy sector, policy can support, but it can’t lead,” Rivet said.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration also repealed the so-called “endangerment finding,” a 2009 federal declaration that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare.

El-Sayed believes that finding should be codified into law, noting it’s “one of the most important things we need to bring back” to hold polluters accountable.

Michigan’s energy picture

The bulk of energy policy decisions, such as what energy sources utilities need to consider and how to tax those sources, is set at the state level, said Sarah Mills, director of the Center for EmPowering Communities at U-M, though she said the phaseout of federal tax incentives has changed “the economic calculus” of renewable energy investments.

Even without direct incentives, there’s a likelihood that developing clean energy sources remains the cheapest option in many locations, especially considering the uncertainty associated with natural gas prices, Mills added.

McMorrow, who has also advocated for investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and stronger enforcement of environmental standards against known polluters, played a key role in setting Michigan’s policy.

She co-sponsored the Clean Energy and Jobs Act, a Democratic-backed law that requires the state’s utilities to achieve 100% clean energy by 2040.

The sweeping changes remain controversial — no Republicans voted in favor of the legislation, and GOP state lawmakers have pushed to rescind the clean energy mandate — though Michigan utilities have continued to slowly transition off fossil fuels as the 2040 deadline approaches and renewable power becomes increasingly cost-competitive.

Natural gas remains Michigan’s most prominent energy source, generating 45% of the state’s power, while coal and nuclear provide about 21% each and renewables provide 12%.

Nationally, coal production has declined for years while cheaper renewables and natural gas dominate new power installations. Solar is expected to account for half of the nation’s new generating capacity this year, with battery storage facilities accounting for another 28%.

Further complicating the state’s energy picture is the possible addition of data centers into local communities around the state, which require significant electricity and water resources to run. Both McMorrow and El-Sayed have backed policy plans to put federal guardrails around data center production and penalize bad actors.

If anything, the prospect of data centers in Michigan has shed additional light on the need for an expanded, diverse domestic energy supply that’s resilient to outside pressures, said Rivet of the Conservative Energy Forum.

“If we’re facing a future where data centers are going to challenge and require us to increase capacity, we need to do that in a way that doesn’t hurt the average rate payer, that doesn’t threaten grid stability,” Rivet said.

All-of-the-above approach

Rogers contends Michigan’s high energy costs were helped along by Democratic policies at the state and federal level, arguing regulations and the state’s energy standards caused an “artificial increase” in energy prices.

“They gave you really outrageously high prices and outrageously high gas prices, and with no end in sight,” he said. “And what they’re talking about today is doing the same thing they were doing before.”

Republican US Senate candidate Mike Rogers sits in the chair. — Republican US Senate candidate Mike Rogers speaks at the Mackinac Policy Conference. (Simon Schuster/Bridge Michigan)

Rogers said he supports an “all of the above” approach that prioritizes domestic energy production and meets residential and business utility needs. What he doesn’t want is renewable energy if it’s “not good common sense.”

“The sun doesn’t shine all day, and the wind doesn’t blow 24 hours a day, so you’ve got to have alternative sources of energy,” he said. “So, where it works, let’s do it. Where you have to, take out these mandates, it’s costing us all pretty dearly.”

Rogers said he supported Trump’s efforts in the Middle East, predicting that gas prices will “structurally” come down once the conflict with Iran is resolved.

Speaking to voters in Detroit prior to winning re-election in 2024, Trump promised voters that he would cut the price of energy and electricity in half within a year after taking office.

“That didn’t happen,” said Dodge of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

Instead, energy prices have increased for residents at both the state and national level. This week Consumers Energy filed an application to raise electric rates by roughly $456 million annually.

In the midterms, “voters are going to be looking for a candidate who can speak to what they’re going to do to make sure our energy is more affordable,” Dodge continued.

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