These Trades Workers Voted for Trump. Now They Feel Betrayed.
Trump has cancelled billions of dollars for clean energy projects to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy in his ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ Workers who voted for him told us they’re paying the price.
By Brock Hrehor, More Perfect Union
Until recently, trades workers in Maine couldn’t fill clean energy jobs fast enough. Electricians who in the 2010s had to take across-the-board pay cuts to get jobs suddenly found themselves at the forefront of a renewable energy boom.
Now, these same workers are facing a devastating wave of layoffs — and thanks to the passage of the Trump administration’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” trades workers across the country may soon face the same situation. .
So what happened?
Many of these jobs can be traced back to the Inflation Reduction Act, which marked the largest federal investment in renewable energy in U.S. history. The act, passed under the Biden administration in August 2022, helped to spark a clean energy boom by providing tax credits, grants, and loans for renewable energy projects like wind and solar.
This increased demand for electricians and construction workers, who were able to leverage their newfound bargaining power to receive higher wages and better job opportunities.
“The rate for a union electrician is currently about $39 an hour. In 2020 we were at about $29, $30 bucks an hour,” Scott Cuddy, a longtime electrician at IBEW 1253, told More Perfect Union. “So we have seen an enormous increase in the wages for the people doing the work. And that's because when you have work to do, you get bargaining power.”
Since January, however, uncertainty surrounding whether or not these tax credits would survive under the Trump administration has led to the cancellation of or delays in more than $14 billion in clean energy projects, resulting in the elimination of at least 10,000 jobs. Some of these workers who voted for Trump now feel betrayed.
“When I voted for Trump, my big thing was I agreed with his stance on immigration. I agreed with his idea of no tax on tips, no tax on overtime,” apprentice electrician Brayden House told More Perfect Union. “I liked his stance on no new wars and now we're seeing the exact opposite happen.”
The passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” stands to make the workers’ employment prospects worse. The bill phases out the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy investments, derailing hundreds of billions of dollars in planned construction and eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“They love to have the guys standing behind 'em in the hard hats, when they have a press conference. But when it comes to doing the actual policy, that will actually help us, we have that policy in place right now,” Cuddy told More Perfect Union. “It's the IRA. It's helped bring more people into the trades. It's helped us get paid more. And this is across the board.”
Watch our full report here:
Reporting by Samuel Black. See below for a full transcript of the video.
BRAYDEN: I had heard people say, if you vote for this, you're gonna get what you voted for, but that's what people say every election.
SAM BLACK, More Perfect Union producer: A catastrophic wave of layoffs is hitting electricians in Maine. It may be a preview of hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be lost nationwide, after President Trump and Republicans just repealed billions in clean energy investments.
WORKER 1 (JAKE): It was like a light switch got opened and all of our work just disappeared overnight.
SAM: We went to Maine, where a solar boom has already come to an abrupt halt.
WORKER 2 (BETHANY): I got laid off at the beginning of May. I haven't gotten any calls yet.
WORKER 3 (CIERRA): I’m on unemployment right now, and in the state of Maine that's $595 dollars per week. And I pay rent that's $1350 a month.
JAKE: This has nothing to do with our local union or the companies around us bidding jobs. It solely comes down to what's happening in our federal government right now.
SAM: We came here to talk to electricians who voted for Trump, to understand: how are they thinking about his agenda, now that it’s costing them work?
SAM: We're outside Bangor, Maine, and we're headed to meet an apprentice electrician who's been working steadily for the last several years, but suddenly he finds himself unemployed and he wants to talk to us about why.
BRAYDEN: A good friend of mine in high school, he was three grades above me. And whenever I'd go over to his house, he'd have $2,000 guitars, like a $5,000 Marshall amplifier. And I'm like, where are you getting all this money, dude? And he's like, well, I'm an electrician. I learned to be an electrician. You should do it too.
SAM: Brayden House is an apprentice electrician who last year voted for Trump.
BRAYDEN: After finding out I was having my daughter at 17, I'm like, I, I need money. And I, it ain't gonna be spent on guitars and amplifiers, it’s gonna be spent on diapers and making a future for this kid.
BRAYDEN: I applied to the apprenticeship and heard back in March of ‘22. And I started work three weeks after I graduated high school.
I'm a 17-year-old kid, they're asking me life experience questions. I'm like, I don't know dude. I work at a Dunkin’ Donuts. My first week I get in, I get a check for $1,300 for a 40 hour week. And I'm like, yep, this is what I'm doing now. I'm sticking with this.
BRAYDEN [at solar field]: Obviously you see the arrays of solar panels. Yeah. And you see underneath it.
SAM: Brayden took me to one of the eight solar projects he has helped build over the last several years.
BRAYDEN: Nothing beats, like just before August, like, May to June in a solar field.
I remember being on a solar field one day and I get an email of my Lincoln Financial account. I'm like, holy shit, I've only been doing this for a year and a half and I have three grand in my retirement account.
SAM: Why do you think the work was so steady?
BRAYDEN: Because there were so many solar projects. You can't go anywhere in this state without seeing the solar field or multiple.
SCOTT CUDDY, IBEW 1253 electrician: It kept every electrician in our local union employed.
Sam: Scott Cuddy is a longtime electrician out of the same union local as Brayden. He told me that until recently, there were so few jobs that electricians had to take across the board pay cuts to get work.
SCOTT: We had zero solar projects going on for years and years and years. Guys were traveling to other jurisdictions to go work on solar projects.
SAM: That started to change in 2022.
News clips about Congress passing the Inflation Reduction Act
SAM: The Inflation Reduction Act was the largest federal investment in clean energy jobs in American history. It provided tax credits that encouraged business to build renewable projects like solar, wind, and battery storage. And as those projects multiplied, the landscape for skilled trades workers transformed.
SCOTT: The rate for a union electrician is currently about $39 an hour. In 2020, we were at about $29, $30 bucks an hour. So we have seen an enormous increase in the wages for the people doing the work. And that's because when you have work to do, you get bargaining power.
BRAYDEN: They were so desperate for people, they'd raise the amount of money they'd pay you for, per hour, to get you there. And it was competitive. Like companies were competing on how much they would pay their guys to get the amount of guys that they needed to finish these solar fields. Solar, it fed my family, you know, solar lined my pockets. It gave me work for years.
SAM: Take me through your thinking, what was your thinking when you decided to vote for Trump?
BRAYDEN: When I voted for Trump, my big thing was I, I agreed with his stance on immigration. I agreed with his idea of no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. I liked his stance on no new wars, and now we're seeing the exact opposite happen. And the immigration thing and Palestine were two of the biggest things that turned people off to the Biden administration, to the potential Harris administration. At least in who I've spoken to on job sites.
SAM: What, what was your reaction when Trump was elected?
BRAYDEN: I was not surprised.
SAM: But were you, were you happy? I mean, you voted for Trump.
BRAYDEN: Yeah, I was pretty happy. I was, happy is not the right word. I was indifferent. I was more, you know, great, the better of two evils. Let's hope nothing goes bad, and then now it's going bad.
SAM: Since January, at least $14 billion of renewable energy projects have been cancelled or put on hold across the U.S. – including three big solar and battery developments in Maine.
SCOTT: At the February Union meeting, of this year, of 2025, the business manager during his report said, guys, I can, I can chart out full employment to mid 2027 right now. At the March union meeting, he said, we're gonna be looking at 50% unemployment this summer. It went from, I can see full work, get your strength back so you can get back out on the job for the next thing till 2027 to, we will be at 50% unemployment this year.
SCOTT: The uncertainty has devastated the construction industry in Maine. And I think an important point in this is the tax credits aren't even gone yet.
SAM: A week after this conversation, Republicans in Congress passed Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” drastically scaling back investments in solar and wind. The bill rapidly phases out the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy investments, preserving funding only for projects up and running in the next 18 months. That will likely derail hundreds of billions of dollars of planned construction, and eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs.
SAM: When did you realize this would affect you?
BRAYDEN: It really hit me about two weeks into my layoff because at first it was like, yeah, these layoffs should only last one or two weeks. And then the fourth week came around, and that's when it really hit me that we might be in for no work for a while.
SAM: Brayden is one of 66 apprentices in his union who’ve been laid off since April. He's now on a waiting list for the next job, with nearly 30 people ahead of him.
BRAYDEN: I've seen three people move off that list in the last 60 days. In summer, usually everyone's employed. Usually there’s enough work that everyone’s employed. Right now, seeing only three people move in 60 days, that's, it's bleak.
PRESIDENT TRUMP (at rally): I will terminate the “Green New Scam” immediately. It’s the greatest scam in history.
SCOTT: They love to have the guys standing behind 'em in the hard hats, when they have a press conference. But when it comes to doing the actual policy, that will actually help us, we have that policy in place right now. It's the [Inflation Reduction Act], it's helped bring more people into the trades. It's helped us get paid more. And this is across the board. The policy's in place. If you just let the policy survive, we will be fine.
TRUMP (on tarmac): This is a great bill. This is going to be a great bill for the country.
BRAYDEN: I think he could swallow his pride. He's cutting the things that Joe Biden did that made labor so good. And the name of, “I don't like Joe Biden, so I don't want to stand for anything he stood for.” But you shouldn't be cutting something that your predecessor did that was good because he's your predecessor. You should continue to build on the good things he did. If it's creating jobs, if it's boosting the economy, why get rid of it?