By AUDREY STREB
Several corporate media outlets and some Democrats have pivoted away from climate policy and instead are shifting their message to focusing on rising electricity prices.
Though climate change has been a key plank of energy policy for most Democrats, legacy media outlets have pointed out in recent months that Democratic lawmakers have mostly abandoned mentioning the “Green New Deal” and have instead ramped up rhetoric regarding electricity costs. Democrats and legacy media outlets have been emphasizing climbing electricity costs — a shift in focus from climate change to consumer pain — as several recent polls have found that many Americans do not view climate policy as a top priority.
“The way to victory is to talk about price,” Democratic Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said at a New York Times event in September. “You could talk about the planetary emergency and mitigation and adaptation, and you could throw in some environmental justice rhetoric, and by the time you’re done talking, people think you don’t care about them.”
Electricity costs are an issue voters are expected to consider at the ballot box headed into the midterms, with electricity costs already a flashpoint in some state and local races, according to multiple reports.
One Politico editor noted in a recent op-ed that “climate policy is decidedly unfashionable,” and several other legacy media outlets including The New York Times have highlighted the pivot from climate policy as pricey energy bills move to the forefront. Notably, several outlets and left-leaning energy policy experts attributed rising electricity costs in part to climate change or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Most Americans did not view climate change as a top policy issue heading into the 2024 election, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center poll, and President Donald Trump campaigned against Democrats’ energy policies which he dubbed the “green new scam.”
Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons wrote in an Oct. 1 op-ed that Trump is responsible for soaring energy costs, though he neglected to mention climate change. One June CNN report noted that Democrats want to make utility costs a midterms issue, and several Senate Democrats like Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island have been repeatedly noting that electricity prices have risen under President Donald Trump.
Notably, electricity costs were already rising under former President Joe Biden, driven by the administration’s push for intermittent green energy resources, surging demand from data centers and the retirement of aging energy infrastructure.
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Some energy policy experts have been saying for years that the radical climate agenda is disconnected from the priorities of most Americans.
“The Democratic Party seems to suddenly have zero interest in promoting climate fears or Green New Deal-style policies,” Marc Morano, author and publisher of ClimateDepot.com, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The Democrats received the message loud and clear from recent elections that the public is not tolerating virtue signaling about saving the planet anymore. The Trump Effect has crushed the spirit of the climate movement internationally as well, with Europeans retreating from climate change advocacy and the UN climate agenda is seeing nations show massive disinterest.”
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What Trump’s victory taught Democrats about climate change – By Debra Kahn –
Climate policy is decidedly unfashionable in 2025 — among Democrats.
The party isn’t embracing climate change denialism like many in the GOP, nor is it endorsing the Trump administration’s attacks on clean energy. But as Democrats continue groping for a way forward after their 2024 defeat, they’ve clearly decided they need to change how they talk about climate and energy issues. And in some cases, it goes beyond rhetoric to the actual policies they’re promoting. The bottom line for Democrats: Climate is out, affordability is in.
With Donald Trump having won back the presidency amid broad frustration with high prices, it’s perhaps no surprise that Democrats are trying to make gains in the affordability debate. But it’s still striking to see longtime climate champions in the party shift gears, and it speaks to concern among Democrats that their focus on climate change has weighed them down.
