The Big Story 

Democrats won big on election night — after focusing on green issues from an affordability standpoint rather than an environmental one.

© AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough/Yuki Iwamura/Matt Rourke

In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the governor's race while in Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger was the winner. 

Sherrill in particular focused on energy issues in her campaign as electricity prices in New Jersey have spiked over the course of the last year. 

Meanwhile, in Georgia, Democrats picked up two seats on the Public Service Commission. 

Environmental groups celebrated the wins. 

“Tonight, voters in New Jersey and Virginia chose leaders ready to take on soaring energy costs and the powerful interests driving them higher," said Evergreen Action Executive Director Lena Moffitt in a written statement. "Governors-elect Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger earned voters’ trust with common-sense plans to lower costs by fixing PJM’s broken system and expanding cheap, homegrown, faster-to-build clean energy."

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I'm Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

Programming Note: I'll be on vacation tomorrow and Friday, so the newsletter will be compiled by The Hill's editors. I'll be back Monday.

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Essential Reads 

How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:

Democrats win key Georgia utility commission seats seen as midterm bellwethers

San Francisco leaders call for new checks on Waymo after death of beloved cat KitKat

Judge allows Trump to reconsider previously approved wind project

What We're Reading 

News we've flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

• Interior Secretary Faces Scrutiny for Travel Amid Shutdown (The New York Times)

   

• Europe’s climate bubble bursts on the eve of crucial summit (Politico Europe)

What Others are Reading 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

The government may not open again this year, thanks to Speaker Johnson 

The government shutdown is now officially the longest on record, surpassing the previous record of 34 days that occurred during President Trump’s first term in office. That shutdown, which lasted from Dec. 22, 2018, through Jan. 25, 2019, ended when the president backed down on his border wall funding demands.  Read more

Size of November SNAP payments revealed: Here’s the minimum, maximum benefits

The 42 million Americans who rely on food assistance to afford groceries are getting a better idea of how big (or how small) their benefits will be in November when they are eventually issued. Read more