Exclusive: Environmental group plans to mobilize "energy bill voters"

• The memo from its super PAC describes a strategy to mobilize specific pockets of voters in House, Senate and governor's races.

The big picture: The memo identifies a target group it dubs "energy bill voters" — people whose households or businesses are struggling with higher power and gasoline prices.

• "Energy Bill Voters are more likely to be Women, Black and/or Latino, non-college-educated, less engaged with politics, independent, moderate, or soft partisan voters," states the memo by Sara Schreiber, the fund's senior VP of campaigns.
• The group and its affiliates plan media campaigns and field operations in many of the most critical races to mobilize what it calls the "next crucial voting bloc."

State of play: "A key part of the electorate is really affected by this affordability crisis, and they are interested in candidates who have a plan and are creating solutions that will keep costs low," Schreiber told Axios.

• It hopes to connect higher costs to Trump administration and Republican lawmakers' cutbacks of federal support for low-carbon energy.
• The group's recent research offered voters a choice between a candidate who wants to lower energy costs by increasing clean energy production vs. a candidate who "opposed clean energy."
• It showed a 3.4% swing toward the former, according to the memo.

Friction point: LCV also wants to harness voters' ire at energy companies.

• "They're angry at monopoly utility companies, at Big Tech, at Big Oil, who are making like these record profits at a time when everything is getting more expensive for them," said Schreiber.

My thought bubble: Big Tech's inclusion in the memo is a sign of the times.

• This will be the first federal election cycle since AI data centers — and fears they're adding to power costs — landed atop the political radar.

What we're watching: The list of races where the LCV fund will be active in 2026 is still taking shape.

• But it's eyeing support for Democrats in Senate races including Ohio, North Carolina and New Hampshire, and competitive House contests in Michigan's 4th and 7th districts, the group tells Axios.

Catch up quick: The LCV Victory Fund and affiliates provided over $100 million across federal, state and local races in the 2022 cycle, the most recent without a White House contest.

• The 2024 tally was nearly $164 million, which includes the presidential race.

What's next: The group plans fresh modeling and research to target specific pockets of these "energy bill voters," and then reach them.

• It envisions a "tailored mix of paid media, via streaming services, content creators, and digital platforms such as YouTube, whose popularity has grown dramatically in recent years."

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