Trump’s Former FERC Chair on the Midterms, Selling Ted Cruz on Solar, and Why He’s Nervous About the Permitting Bill | Energy on the Ballot

Election Day is tomorrow, and energy is on the ballot. Neil Chatterjee, who chaired the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during President Trump’s first term, joins Jigar and Jamie for the final episode of our midterm series. Whatever happens tomorrow, he wants both parties to change course on energy.

For Neil, part of the fix is the Senate’s bipartisan permitting bill, which would help get more power onto the grid. It gets its first vote November 9, six days after the election. Republicans walked away from a permitting deal once they swept the 2024 election, and Neil worries Democrats could do the same if they have a big night.

In this episode:

• Neil and Jigar predict who wins the Senate
• The Ohio Senate race Neil sees as the biggest test for data centers on the ballot
• What it would take to pass the permitting bill before January, and the House committee where a few departing hardliners could kill it
• What each party needs to accept after the election: natural gas for Democrats, more than “drill, baby, drill” for Republicans
• How Neil convinced Ted Cruz that rooftop solar tax credits were “an America First type policy”

Links:

Our website: https://www.energyempire.fm

Neil and Michael Regan’s Fortune op-ed on regulating data centers: https://fortune.com/2026/10/23/data-center-mess-how-to-fix-bipartisan/

The Senate permitting bill: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2026/9/whitehouse-capito-heinrich-lee-introduce-bipartisan-american-affordability-and-jobs-act-of-2026

Political Climate Podcast: https://www.politicalclimatepodcast.com

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