Energy blame game: Michigan Democrat targets Trump

Michigan’s two major political parties are blaming each other for higher electric and natural gas bills.

Rep. Kara Hope, D-Holt, blamed President Trump and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett for the state’s high energy rates in a Feb. 24 Lansing State Journal op-ed. But Trump says former President Joe Biden and blue state leaders caused high energy prices, a spokesperson told Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Michigan’s economic troubles are in part due to skyrocketing increasing energy costs, Hope said in her op-ed. She notes that the spike is happening “all around the country.”

Hope claimed that Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill caused utility rates to increase through extending tax breaks, and she added that more clean energy sources would lower energy prices. Hope supports the governor’s renewable energy mandates and voted for legislation Whitmer signed in 2023 to require that utilities move to energy sources such as wind and solar. The law supports Whitmer’s MI Health Climate Plan introduced in 2022.

“Clean, renewable energy like solar is the fastest to bring online and the cheapest energy source available,” said Hope in an email to CapCon.

Meanwhile, Barrett blamed state Democrats who enacted green energy mandates. Michigan pays higher electricity rates than its neighbors, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Michigan pays 14.16 cents per kilowatt hour, while Ohio pays 11.29, Indiana pays 11.38, Wisconsin pays 12.72, and Illinois pays 12.21.

“My priority in Congress has been to take the government’s thumb off the scale, increase competition and choices, and unleash affordable, reliable energy for everyone in Michigan,” Barrett wrote in an email to CapCon.

Democrats in Lansing went in the opposite direction, Barrett said, and residents are paying the price.

“Our state already had the highest electric rates in the Midwest, and now those outrageous energy prices are expected to double thanks to the latest round of ridiculous green energy mandates,” he said.

The Trump administration blamed state Democratic leadership for Michigan’s high utility prices.

“The left embraced Joe Biden’s radical Green New Scam with open arms, resulting in an energy crisis that sent electricity prices soaring more than 30 percent in just four years,” White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers wrote in an email to CapCon.

Rogers added that Michigan voted overwhelmingly for Trump’s energy agenda in 2024. Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris by 80,101 votes out of 5,664,186 cast, according to state records.

A December 2025 study by the Institute for Energy Research concluded that electricity prices tend to be higher in Democratic-led states.

“In total, 86% of states with electricity prices above the national average in the continental U.S. are reliably blue, having voted for the Democratic nominee for president in the 2020 and 2024 elections,” stated the study. The study also noted that “80% of the 10 states with the lowest electricity prices are reliably red states.”

Green energy mandates drive up prices, the study added.

A study published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in 2025 projected that Whitmer’s plans for 100% net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will cost Michiganders $386 billion.

Residents will pay an additional $2,746 annually, or $228.83 per month because of the required transition, according to the study.

The amount of Michigan’s electricity that was generated from wind, solar, and nuclear power increased by 4.4% from 2019 to 2025, according to Whitmer’s Feb. 26 State of the State address.

Michigan’s electric rates rose 5% faster than those of the rest of the East North Central region, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin, according to Dave Stevenson, director of energy and environmental policy at the Mackinac Center.