Right-to-repair policies weren’t the headline issue in the midterms, but lawmakers across party lines ran on fixing the systems that lock buyers out.
Iowa senator-elect Josh Turek and presumptive Minnesota state representative Jake Johnson both centered repair policies in their platforms, focusing on issues that affect farmers and their equipment. (As of publication, Johnson’s race has not yet been called and may be headed to a recount.) In St. Paul, Minnesota, voters also passed a measure ensuring renters' right to repair with overwhelming support.
The right-to-repair movement, propelled by advocates in the US and internationally, pushes lawmakers for rules that prevent manufacturers from locking owners out of their own devices. Repair efforts tend to be bipartisan, with support ranging from consumers to farmers to wheelchair users.
“A political climate where people want policies that stand up for the little guy, help reduce unnecessary costs, and work in a bipartisan way—that’s a very good environment for right-to-repair,” says Nathan Proctor, senior director of PIRG’s right-to-repair campaign, in a text to WIRED.
Advancing right-to-repair legislation would be a step toward the larger ownership battles taking place in the US. People are angry that companies are turning everything into a subscription service or using software locks to restrict people from modifying or fixing their gear. That meshes with a long-simmering fury about the broader political climate, where tariffs, a memory shortage, and an extremely unpopular war with Iran have driven prices up on just about everything.
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