Robert Wittman

Shannon Taylor, the Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman in Virginia’s 1st District, said she opposes NextEra Energy’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy.

The deal, a $67 billion exchange of stock, is under review by the State Corporation Commission.

Taylor said Wittman “personally benefited from the merger through his stockholdings in NextEra — getting richer while families were forced to pay more.”

Wittman’s financial disclosure filing with the Clerk of the House of Representatives shows that in 2025 he owned no more than 80 shares, valued at their midyear peak at no more than $6,880. They produced less than $200 of income. Those shares have declined in value by 7.7% since NextEra and Dominion announced the deal.

Although Taylor did not mention it, Wittman’s 2025 report, the most current available, said he also owned somewhere between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of Dominion shares. Dominion stock climbed 11% since the deal’s announcement.

Federal filings only disclose ranges for the value of elected officials’ investment holdings.

“Rep. Wittman and his wife inherited both of these holdings upon the deaths of their parents, who were working people who lived modestly and saved their whole lives,” said campaign spokesman Will Dietrich. “He does not actively manage his savings and investments to maintain an appropriate arm’s-length distance from the professionals who do.

“Shannon Taylor knows this but traffics in falsehoods to hide her own record as a soft prosecutor who let criminals out way too early.”

Taylor, meanwhile, said, “Handing control of Virginia’s power to out-of-state interests and creating the largest utility monopoly in the country is not the answer at a time of rising energy costs.”

She said NextEra’s acquisition of Gulf Power was followed by billions of dollars in rate increases for customers.

That 2022 acquisition of Gulf Power saw a benchmark 1,000-kilowatt-hour monthly bill rise from $148.78 to $155.61. The bill has since declined to $141.36, according to Florida Power and Light.

Taylor called on Wittman to sell his shares in NextEra and speak out in opposition to the deal.

“Virginians already pay too much to keep the lights on. They cannot and will not shoulder even higher bills, so massive corporations can make bigger profits. Leaders of both parties here in Virginia must oppose this merger,” Taylor said.

State Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, has also said he opposes the deal, arguing that it would mean higher electric bills while noting that NextEra pulls large dividends from its Florida utility, cut power to large numbers of its customers and opposed a transmission line that would bring clean energy into New England.

NextEra has said its shareholders will pay $1.78 billion in bill credits for Dominion’s Virginia customers if the deal is approved, and smaller amounts for Dominion’s North Carolina and South Carolina customers.

On a benchmark 1,000-kilowatt-hour monthly bill, which now costs $180.79, that will total $10 over the two years following completion of the merger.

In their joint application to the SCC, the companies say there would be a firewall around Dominion’s Virginia utility after the merger and that Dominion employees’ jobs will be protected for 18 months.

NextEra’s bid for Dominion has also drawn sharp criticism from environmentalists who say it will accelerate development of electricity-hungry data centers and force Dominion to build more natural gas-fired power plants, undermining the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

Critics also say rate increases by NextEra’s Florida Power and Light subsidiary and the company’s intensive political lobbying in Florida raise concerns.