Rising Electricity Costs Emerge as Key Campaign Issue in New Jersey, Virginia Races

John Haughey

Reporter

Updated: 11/2/2025

Power bills may be among the factors that determine what party is in power in statehouses and governors’ mansions in 2026. 

The Nov. 4 New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races are being closely watched, as they spotlight issues that could determine how campaigns nationwide approach the 2026 midterm elections.

In both mid-Atlantic states’ elections, voters’ chief concerns include taxes, health care, job generation, and inflation in the context of affordability, with spiking grocery prices, rising housing costs, and skyrocketing utility bills among their sources of anxiety.

With New Jersey customers paying on average 19 percent more for electricity in August 2025 than in August 2024, and Virginia utilities—after imposing 30 percent hikes from 2020 to 2023—receiving approval for 15 percent to 21 percent rate increases in the next two years, power bills may be among the factors that determine what party is in power in statehouses and governors’ mansions in 2026.

New Jersey and Virginia voters are demanding that candidates address electricity rates, a potential harbinger of elections to come, with an Oct. 20 Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll showing that 36 percent of U.S. adults are stressed over utility costs.

Walker Larson: Revenge of the Dumbphone. Why Minimalist Phones Are Making a Comeback

https://www.theepochtimes.com/author/walker-larson 

Not so long ago, the ability to carry a pocket-sized phone with you everywhere and call anyone in the world with it seemed like a stunning technological breakthrough, the realization of the most fanciful sci-fi daydreams. We’d finally made a real-life version of the impossibly advanced communicator gadget in the old Star Trek TV show. Everyone rushed to get one and step into a new, futuristic age.

But soon, this wonder machine itself became obsolete, as flip phones were quickly outpaced by smartphones—which we really ought to call miniature computers instead of phones, since calling is used far less than their social media apps, web browsing, games, and texting features. By the mid-2010s, anyone still using a flip phone was seen as frightfully out-of-date. People still lugging around those antiques were either hopeless Luddites or criminals using them as burner phones.

But now, cell phones are following the cycle of hairstyles and fashion: What was once cool, then uncool, has become cool again. The “dumbphone” may have been knocked down, but it never left the fight. Today, it’s coming back with a vengeance.

About 80 Missing Children Rescued, 1,700 People Arrested in Memphis

Jack Phillips

Breaking News Reporter

Updated: 10/30/2025

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Oct. 29 that federal efforts in Memphis, Tennessee, over the past month have led to the rescue of about 80 missing children and the arrests of 1,700 people, including 126 gang members.

Last month, the federal government said it would send National Guard troops and federal agents to Memphis, which has long been ranked among U.S. cities as having the highest rates of violent crime and homicides.

Bondi confirmed the operation’s figures in a post on X, saying that “tolerating crime is a choice.”

“With 1700 arrests—including 126 gang members—in just one month, our Memphis surge is proving that it’s possible to make American cities safe again,” Bondi said.

SNAP Payments

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston [pictured here]  ... ruled that the "suspension of SNAP payments was based on the erroneous conclusion that the contingency funds could not be used to ensure continuation of SNAP payments."

Both Talwani and McConnell and were appointed by former President Joe Biden....

The president [Trump] responded to the rulings in a post on Truth Social....

"I do NOT want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT," he added. "Therefore, I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible." 

Eastern Oregon Attempting to Breakaway from Oregon

Epoch Times 

Unbeknownst to most Americans, the eastern part of Oregon is in the process of attempting to break away from the state.

After many years of being fed up with the policies coming out of Portland, over a third of the counties in Oregon have voted to secede. Specifically, they voted to leave Oregon and join the state of Idaho. This is part of a growing regional shift known as the “Greater Idaho” movement.

What’s truly interesting about this particular movement is that it might actually succeed.

Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide on Its Way to the Governor

Dear Advocates, 

In a surprise move in the early hours of Friday morning, the Illinois State Senate quietly took up and passed a bill to legalize assisted suicide, by a one vote margin. SB 1950 came up on the floor after 2 am during a veto session, with Senators voting 30-27 (with two not voting). The House passed SB 1950 in the spring, so the bill now goes to Governor JB Pritzker (pictured here). 

You  may recall that the House vote came after proponents gutted an unrelated food safety bill, which had previously passed the Senate, and replaced the language with the assisted suicide legislation.