Statement of EDF Action President David Kieve
WASHINGTON, DC, November 4, 2025 – Voters in Virginia tonight elected former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger as the commonwealth’s next governor. The closely watched off-year statehouse election served as a temperature check on an electorate frustrated with the high cost of living. Fifty-nine percent of battleground constituents in a recent Navigator survey ranked increases in utility bills among the highest burdens on household budgets.
“Tomorrow, Virginians will wake up to Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger. There’s no surprise here: She leaned into cost and affordability throughout her campaign and ran on a pro-clean energy agenda that will lower electric bills as it cleans their air. Voters flatly rejected a costly fossil-fueled future in favor of growing solar industries and the offshore wind generation for which Virginia is primed. Spanberger chose to listen – and she will choose to lead.”
During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump said he would “cut your energy prices in half within 12 months.” Nearly a year in, energy prices are rising at more than twice the overall rate of inflation, with electricity rates up 11.3% in Virginia.
- David Kieve, president, EDF Action