The Populist Struggle Comes to the Midwest

The country appears to be in the middle of a populist awakening, with a majority signaling approval for a wave of MAGA-inspired reforms in the recent election it would combat corporate interests, decentralize places of power, and create a more level playing field for ordinary Americans. Taking note of climate change, even Democrats media were quick to show off their own populist credentials and played a friendlier tune when it comes to Trump.

It remains to be seen whether lawmakers will heed this trend as carefully as some media figures already have. We’ll have a first test for this in a number of states starting next month, in which a battle is already quietly brewing over a type of legislation known as right of first refusal laws. Wisconsin looks set to go first.

The right of first refusal is supposed to be a good litmus test for politicians’ populist credentials, because it involves all the problematic elements of politics that Americans seek to eliminate. ROFR has it all: backroom deals, government-granted monopoly powers, corporate welfare, and ultimately the government picks the winners and losers while citizens foot the bill.

Although ROFR is a term that can be used in a multitude of circumstances, this particular fight concerns the $100 billion in government funding for new power transmission lines. Utility companies, which have already secured a government-backed monopoly in most states, are pressuring state lawmakers to pass ROFR bills that will prevent even their competitors from expanding. bid on these projects.

If companies do not have to compete with others for these jobs, the agreements will have awarded these projects without cost cap requirements, without limits on cost overruns and with a reduction in their guaranteed return on equity. Ultimately, utility companies will increase their monopoly power, inherit billions of dollars in social welfare up front, and have no competition that will drive down their prices once the final product is produced.

It’s a good deal for them: first they get taxpayer money to create an essential product, then they get monopoly power to sell it back to taxpayers at whatever price they see fit.

Why would lawmakers agree to such an openly corrupt plan? Simple. There is a very good chance that some of the money they distribute to corporations will be put back into their campaign funds via subsequent donations.

Everyone wins, but it’s the little guy who pays the bill. Not super populist, is it?

Although the topic may seem niche, the prices make it anything but a fringe topic. We’re talking about $100 billion in block grants to distribute energy production across the country, improving the reliability, efficiency and sustainability of the power grid. It is also should result in downward pressure on prices for consumers (more supply, same demand, lower prices), but this is only if legislators allow the free market to operate and competition to create such a driver .

This fight is not new in Wisconsin. Utility companies and the unions that support them also tried to pass ROFR in 2024, but were delayed after the issue attracted national attention and condemnation. But they are coming back in force in 2025, and the pressure campaign is already being prepared.

Wisconsin lawmakers would do well to pay attention to Indiana, which adopted a version of ROFR last year. Recently, a federal judge stayed the law from taking effect after ruling that it discriminated against interstate commerce and was therefore unconstitutional.

Americans are ready to take a break. They want an affordable quality of life. They want a merit-based economy. This is not what these utility companies intend to provide. In fact, according to the Energy and Policy Institute, “in 2023, state utility regulators nationwide approved $9.7 billion in net electricity rate increases, more than the double the $4.4 billion in rate increases they approved the year before, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. .”

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Not only have these companies already raised prices for the taxpayers they are dumping, but they are doing so while their staff spends extravagantly on private jets and spa days and passes the cost of their lobbying efforts onto consumers.

It’s time for politicians to choose sides. You either fight for the people or you fight against them. And ROFR is definitely the opposition.

Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) is president and co-founder of BASEDPolitics and a member of the White Coat Waste Project.