November 2025 Newsletter

First, our monthly meeting will be this Thursday, November 13th at 7pm at the UMWA building (525 E 100 S, Price, UT 84501 ). We hope to see you all there. 

And with one evening, our spirits have been lifted.  Democrats reasserted their relevance in many states and reminded us that there was only 1.5% difference in the national vote last year.  Female governors in Virginia and New Jersey won with leads far beyond the predictions.  New York has elected its youngest and first Muslim mayor.  The electorate has spoken and despite some GOP efforts to capitalize on fear and hyperbolic political name calling, the Democratic Party showed that it is not dead in the water.  The lessons learned need to be incorporated throughout the country.  What are they?

First, and most importantly, there was one overarching message, and it boiled down to the simple phrase that James Carville used almost three decades ago.  “It's the economy stupid.”  Without a doubt, the Trump administration has been toned deaf to the economic reality facing most Americans.  We can respect conservative principles, but we believe their execution over the last 10 months has been faulty.  We must focus on informing our neighbors of this reality and the consequences discussed below.  

In Virginia, 150,000 federal workers lost their jobs, less for data driven reasons and more because Russell Vought wanted to put federal employees "in trauma" and wanted them to be viewed as the "villains". He specified, in private meetings, that he wanted "bureaucrats to be traumatically affected" to the point they would not want to come to work.  You should know that, according to the Brookings Institute, “the federal government’s workforce has remained largely unchanged in size for over 50 years, even as the U.S. population has grown by 68% and federal spending has quintupled.”  The economic effects were far reaching and even red counties in Virginia had democrat gains. 

In New Jersey, there were two driving factors. First, the Hudson Tunnel Projects “termination” by President Trump which had the immediate effect of 11,000 jobs lost and estimates of 100,000 jobs lost to direct, indirect and induced effects in the New Jersey and New York economies simply due to what many see as a “vindictive” political play against Democrats.  Contrast this with President Biden’s Infrastructure Act when he was asked why so many of the projects were being built in red states.  “Consider one fact,” the president (Biden) said. “The historic investments we made went to more red states than blue states. Not a politically smart thing to do, and I knew what I was doing. I knew people would be angry. Will the next president really stop an electric battery facility in Liberty, North Carolina? Will he shut down a new solar factory being built in Cartersville, Georgia?”  Well, it turns out that the next president did decide to stop projects in red states, if they dealt with renewable energy, which brings us to the second reason for the huge voter turnout and large victory by Democrats in New Jersey: rising energy costs. 

And unfortunately, this even reaches Carbon County.  Our electric utility rates have increased by 15% in the last year.  Numerous factors play into this increase, such as fuel costs, aging infrastructure, and demand.  In summer months, if Price City is forced to buy electricity on the open market, those costs rise dramatically.  Luckily, homes with solar power often abate such needs.  The open market costs continue to rise mainly due to the increased energy needed for the burgeoning AI data center market.  Our electric bills increase while AI increasingly displaces jobs. 

Without a doubt one similarity that Carbon County shares with Virginia, New Jersey and other areas, has been the government shutdown and the freeze in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) payments.  President Trump, himself, recognized that the shutdown had a negative effect on GOP results, a tacit acceptance that the blame for this shutdown rests primarily on Republican shoulders.  Hopefully, this will be resolved by the time we meet.  In Carbon County, almost 2500 residents are on SNAP.  SNAP dollars are spent quickly by low-income households on food, and those dollars become income for grocery stores, farmers, transport/distribution, etc., which in turn spend their income locally.  It is estimated that every $1 spent on SNAP returns about $1.50 to the local economy.  We must educate people that the loss of those benefits for residents immediately contributes to nutrition deficiencies but also takes money out of our local economy, which eventually affects virtually everyone who works at or owns a local business. 

And this leads us to our last point in this month’s newsletter.  We will be helping Avalon Food Pantry in Helper with their Thanksgiving Day meal for those in need.  This is a great opportunity to show grace and support for those experiencing difficult times right now.  We are finalizing details but if you can carve out any time on the Tuesday (preparation) and/or Wednesday (serving) before Thanksgiving Day, your service would be much appreciated.  We have much to be grateful for and the Executive Committee is optimistic about the pending sea change and the efforts that the Carbon County Democrats will exert in both service and political clout.  We are growing because of your efforts. 

Regards, 

The Executive Committee