Let's game out more implications of big Democratic political wins this week.

Why it matters: Energy policy changes loom after power prices were politically front and center in New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia and beyond.

• The races also preview tactics that could move voters in 2026 contests.

🏃 Catch up quick: You probably know Democrats Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger won governors' mansions in New Jersey and Virginia.

• And the party flipped seats on Georgia's utility board.

💬 What they're saying: "[W]e believe ... Spanberger (D) will strive to develop in-state generation by supporting offshore wind, solar, energy storage, advanced nuclear, and geothermal resources," analysts with the investment and corporate strategy firm Capstone said in a note.

• It sees potential headwinds for building new natural gas infrastructure, despite Spanberger's comments about the fuel's continuing role in the state's energy mix.

👀 What we're watching: How she looks to implement campaign pledges to ensure data centers pay their "fair share" of new generation and transmission costs.

• Virginia regulators' pending decision on utility Dominion's plan for a new rate class for big consumers like data centers could guide her policy, Capstone predicts.

The intrigue: Barclays' analysts, in a note, call the election a "mixed result" for Dominion's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project that's under construction.

• Incumbent GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin backs the project despite President Trump's efforts to scuttle offshore wind.
• "[W]e do think some investors will be wary" now that a Democrat will be running the state, they write, though the bank and Capstone both point out bipartisan support.

🏈 State of play: Barclays sees mixed signals for power companies like Exelon and FirstEnergy in New Jersey.

• Sherrill vowed to freeze rates.
• But their note also flags her support for an "all-of-the-above" portfolio that includes gas, nuclear and renewables.
• And she wants to streamline permitting and licensing for new generation, the bank points out.

The bottom line: A macro-level takeaway is that Dems' focus on energy prices was more effective than the Republicans' MAGA-driven cultural politics playbook.

• A lot can change in the next year before midterms, but Democrats' success moving away from their 2024 pro-democracy message to rising utility bills was a big theme of these off-year races.

The latest: Democrats hope to widen what they see as a political opening on power prices.

• Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee released a report projecting that the average U.S. household will pay $100 more for electricity in 2025 than 2024.

Go deeper

Carbon removal startup Avnos has landed $17 million in project finance from Shell and Mitsubishi Corp. to build a "commercial demonstration" plant, the company first told Axios.

Why it matters: Avnos says its approach pulling CO2 and water from the atmosphere requires far less energy than other direct air capture methods, and produces lots of usable water.

• The money to climb rungs on the scaling ladder comes despite a tough funding landscape for early-stage climate tech hardware.

🗞️ Driving the news: Avnos is going ahead with Project Cedar, a plant that it estimates can remove 3,000 tons of CO2 and produce 6,000 tons of clean water annually.

• It has not disclosed a site but intends to have it online by the end of 2026.

State of play: Instead of employing traditional DAC methods that need heat to remove trapped CO2 from sorbents, Avnos says its "moisture swing" process uses water to isolate carbon.

• It can then be used for underground sequestration or other roles, like embedding in building materials or as inputs for sustainable aviation fuels.

🌎 The big picture: The volumes of CO2 that DAC companies are sucking up remain minuscule — and that's an understatement! — compared to global emissions.

• But right now it's about learning curves and cutting costs.
• Avnos CEO Will Kain tells Axios the new project "puts us on our pathway" to far more scale — plants in the 50,000-100,000 tons per year range — with removal costs under $250/ton.
• "Then, we've got really good line of sight to getting to that less than $100 per ton of CO2 target," he said.

Catch up quick: LA-based Avnos last year raised a $36 million Series A round led by NextEra Energy, joined by Safran Corporate Ventures, Shell Ventures, Envisioning Partners, and Rusheen Capital Management.

• It's nearly done building a 450-ton-per-year demonstration unit in New Jersey supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Kain said.
• And a DOE-backed pilot project in California has been a testbed since 2023.
• Total funding is now over $100 million with today's announcement, Avnos said.

🔭 What we're watching: Kain says the AI boom is among multiple markets for Avnos tech, as data center owners are looking to offset CO2 and need water for cooling.

• "We have a couple of features of our technology that integrate really well and interact really well with data center operations," he said.

The heads of state portion of COP30 gets underway today. A few newsy bits...

💵 Beep beep! There's a new climate finance "roadmap." Brazil and Azerbaijan — hosts of this year's and last year's COPs — dropped a report on how to scale climate finance to $1.3 billion annually by 2035.

• Why it matters: One big takeaway is that it will take a village. The report doesn't offer a silver bullet, but instead a suite of ideas for boosting public and private finance
• Yes, but: It's a very heavy lift, and many of the ideas submitted by countries, NGOs and others would face huge challenges, such as new financial transaction taxes and big increases in grant financing,
• Go deeper: Full report...CarbonBrief analysis.

🛰️ Bloomberg Philanthropies unveiled a $100 million new initiative to boost monitoring of methane pollution and stem major leaks.

• The big picture: The initiative with partners including Carbon Mapper and the Global Methane Hub aims to "close the last mile between methane data and action," Michael Bloomberg said in a LinkedIn post.
• State of play: The project also includes efforts to build and strengthen ties with government and industry, improve technical capacity, and more.

😬 There's "lackluster attendance" from world leaders, Bloomberg reports in a table-setting piece, and a mixture of resolve and recognition of "hard reality" as Paris goals get further out of reach.

• The big picture: "Gone is the confidence and sense of grand ambition that united nearly 200 nations a decade ago, with the adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement," Jennifer Dlouhy reports.

President Trump yesterday nominated former New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce to head the Bureau of Land Management — a move that predictably angered environmental groups while drawing praise from oil and mining interests.

Why it matters: Pearce's bio hints at his priorities if confirmed to lead the agency that oversees massive swaths of public lands.

• A reliable conservative vote in the House from 2003 to 2009 and from 2011 to 2019, Pearce also ran an oil field services company and chaired the state Republican Party for six years.
• When he chaired a subcommittee on national parks, Pearce proposed giving states and counties broad authority over rights of way on federal land.

⚛️ State of play: Trump also nominated former Westinghouse and Holtec International executive Douglas Weaver to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

• Weaver's nod arrives shortly after Trump officials launched a new public-private partnership to build more Westinghouse AP100 reactors in the U.S.

What's next: If confirmed, Weaver — who also held several staff jobs at NRC — would fill the seat vacated by Annie Caputo that expires in June 2026.

"I don't know the answer, but I'm not at all worried about it."

That's the record-setting metric tonnage of LNG that the U.S. shipped in October, per Reuters.

Why it matters: It's the first time a country has exported 10 million metric tons in a month.

• The data point underscores the U.S. role as the largest shipper, and lots of future growth looms from new projects.