Trump’s aversion to “windmills” puts coastal Virginia Republicans at greater political risk after the state’s redistricting vote.

(SeaPRwire) –   When former President Donald Trump attempted to scrap five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast, environmentalists weren’t the only ones to object. Nine GOP members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to administration officials seeking an explanation.

“America’s energy policy ought to be based on facts, fiscal prudence, and the national good — not ideology or political considerations,” the lawmakers stated.

Among these legislators is Rep. Jen Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot representing a coastal Virginia district where an $11.5 billion wind farm is projected to generate 1,000 jobs. Her backing for a project targeted by Trump highlights the tangled political landscape of clean energy in an election year when Republicans risk losing control of the House.

Kiggans may face even greater peril now that Virginia voters approved a new congressional map on Tuesday, making her competitive district more Democratic than before.

Trump’s broader campaign against clean energy led to the cancellation of nearly $35 billion in U.S. projects last year, per a report from E2, a clean energy business group. The report noted that Republican-held congressional districts lost almost twice as much in investments as Democratic districts.

For now, the Virginia project — along with the other four — is back on course due to federal court rulings. But Elaine Luria, a former congresswoman seeking the Democratic nomination in Kiggans’ 2nd Congressional District, argued the incumbent’s efforts have been futile against Trump’s onslaught.

“Her advocacy accomplished nothing,” Luria said. Kiggans did not respond to requests for comment.

A president who loathes ‘windmills’

Trump has framed energy issues as another front in the nation’s cultural clashes, referring to Democrats’ clean energy support as the “Green New Scam.” He frequently voices his hatred of “windmills,” which he called “STUPID AND UGLY” on social media. On the first day of his second term, he issued an executive order blocking wind projects and insisted “smart countries” avoid wind power.

Solar farms fare little better in his view.

“You drive around and see these 3-mile-long, 3-mile-wide structures and think, what the hell is that?” Trump remarked at the White House last summer.

The administration even agreed to pay a French company $1 billion to abandon two U.S. offshore wind leases and invest instead in oil and natural gas projects.

Kiggans voted for Republican legislation to gut clean energy tax credits as part of Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, despite long portraying herself as a renewable energy champion. Democrats have turned this issue into campaign ads, and Luria said it undermines Kiggans’ attempt to “sell herself as a moderate.”

Luria claimed Kiggans “voted for a bill that would raise energy costs.”

In a July Facebook post after the bill’s passage, Kiggans said her vote “wasn’t about politics — it was about overall results.”

“I had ONE vote, and I voted YES on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act not because it was perfect but because it delivers permanent tax relief for families & small businesses, rebuilds our Navy & invests in national defense,” she wrote.

Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, noted frontline Republicans have been put in a tough spot.

“Kiggans isn’t the only Republican being squeezed” as Trump focuses on his own priorities and the country faces economic headwinds worsened by the war with Iran, he said. While few want to risk upsetting the president, Farnsworth added, “in coastal Virginia politics, there’s little upside to opposing wind.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., has been entangled in a Gateway Tunnel controversy — a project adding new rail tracks under the Hudson River to ease congestion between New Jersey and New York City. Trump tried to block federal funding, a potential setback for commuters in Kean’s district. A judge ordered the administration to restore funding after New Jersey and New York Democratic leaders sued.

An opportunity to lead in offshore wind

Although Trump has dismissed offshore wind turbines as ugly, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is 27 miles (43 kilometers) offshore, making it hard to see from land. During a recent visit to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (where construction is staged), the turbines were impossible to discern on the horizon.

Dominion Energy, the project’s operator, says it delivered its first power to the grid last month. First announced in 2013, the project is expected to create 1,000 jobs and generate $2 billion in economic activity, the company reported.

Once finished, the 176-turbine project will deliver 2.6 gigawatts of power — enough for over 660,000 homes — amid Virginia’s growing energy demand from expanding AI data centers.

“Hampton Roads has an opportunity to be a national leader in offshore wind,” said Andrew Nissman, a spokesman for the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, which has trained maritime workers for the project.

Nissman declined to comment on the congressional race, saying: “As with any stop-and-start challenge, it’s important the project keeps moving forward.”

While the wind farm is now partially online, “Kiggans nearly cost her constituents this project by aligning with an administration dead set on dismantling the offshore wind industry and voting to repeal critical clean energy tax credits last year,” said Dan Taylor, Southeast regional field manager for the BlueGreen Alliance (which coordinates labor unions and environmental groups).

“Kiggans claims to prioritize jobs, lower energy costs for Virginians, and reduce emissions,” Taylor added. “Yet she voted to kill jobs, skyrocket family energy costs, and increase emissions driving climate change.”