Discussing Democrats' midterm message on energy

**Dan Testa** (0:01)
Hello, and welcome to Energy Evolution, the podcast where we discuss the major trends shaping the energy transition with the experts and executives making it happen.
I'm Dan Testa. Today, we're going to be looking at how Democrats are talking about energy and what energy policies they're pursuing as the US heads into critical midterm elections in the fall.
For this episode, we'll be hearing from Mary Landrieu, a former US. Senator and Democrat from Louisiana, and from Scott Segal, who co-heads the government relations and strategic communications team at Bracewell, a major international law firm with a long history in the energy field. But first, let's take a few moments to discuss the current state of play in Washington, where Republicans control the House and Senate, the White House and Conservatives control the majority on the US. Supreme Court. It would be hard to overstate the scope and significance of the changes to federal energy policy under the second administration of President Donald Trump. From his first day in office in January 2025, Trump has leveraged and expanded executive authority in pursuit of his goals, especially on energy. His executive orders, including declaring a national energy emergency, kickstarted a process to remove energy regulations the administration considered overly burdensome and unlocked new authorities to accelerate leasing and permitting for energy projects. At the same time, solar and wind were excluded from the national energy emergency, and Trump halted funding and leasing for clean energy projects that were moving forward under the 2022 US Inflation Reduction Act.
The administration has been particularly tough on offshore wind, pausing leases for new projects and eventually even those under construction. For some projects, the federal government has made deals to buy out those leases in exchange for the developers agreeing to pursue fossil fuel projects. And these deals are being challenged in court. In Congress, Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by Trump in July, which further undid many of the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act which had passed under President Joe Biden.
The GOP budget bill repealed the consumer tax credit for electric vehicles, it accelerated deadlines for clean energy tax credits, and got rid of a host of other climate-related provisions in the IRA. In the name of grid reliability, the Trump administration has also pushed to extend the operating lives of coal plants that had been slated for retirement. In January, Trump issued an executive order kicking off a process to withdraw the US from our national climate change treaties. And the administration has also taken steps to strongly encourage the construction of new nuclear reactors by setting up a program to help purchase large components in advance. And then in February, the US and Israel struck Iran, beginning a war that continues today, and which has had major impacts on the price of oil and other commodities relying on safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Okay, that's just a very brief and high-level summary of some of the major energy policies and actions taken by the second Trump administration over the last year and a half. And we didn't even get into tariffs there. Now, with the midterm elections approaching in November, it feels like energy issues are at the top of many voters' lists of concerns. Whether it's the price of gasoline, utility bills, the Iran War, data center development or grid reliability, tackling these issues is going to be a factor in how successful Democrats may be in gaining some control of Congress. So what strategies are Democrats pursuing and how are they talking about these issues?
To get some insights, I spoke with Mary Landrieu. She's a former Democratic Senator for Louisiana who served for 18 years, including as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. She's currently a Policy Advisor at Van Ness, Feldman and DC and co-chairs the Leadership Council of a group called Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, which advocates from natural gas and renewables to all be part of emissions reduction strategies. She also sits on the board of Evergy, an investor-owned utility headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. I spoke with Landrieu at the Sarah Week by S&P Global Conference in Houston earlier this year, and she had some thoughts about what Democrats campaign message should be on energy in 2026

**Mary Landrieu** (4:31)
I think Democrats would be extremely wise to lean into the abundance message for energy, all of the above, including oil and natural gas, and particularly natural gas.
I think Democrats would be wise to stop beating up on the industry, which they do constantly and to no good end, and join with the industry, partner with the industry, to produce more energy and lower emissions. This industry has advanced so much, and I talk about the global energy industry, has advanced so much in just the last decade. And I think Democrats are stuck in the 1970s and 80s. It's not the 1970s, it's not the 1980s, it's 2026