Democrats’ Path to Power Is ‘Climate Populism’, US Representative Says

Representative-elect Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat from Arizona, during the biennial office lottery draw on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. New members compete for space in the House's office buildings with the luckiest getting their pick of larger offices or space closer to the main Capitol building, while other members and their staff will be relegated to less-desirable locations for the next two years. Photo by Al Drago /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Populist messages on climate change, including the potential for cleaner energy to lower electricity bills, are crucial as the Democrats seek to win back control of Congress in next year’s midterm election, according to Representative Yassamin Ansari.

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“This climate populism message is one that we really need to lean into,” the Arizona Democrat said at the Bloomberg Green Seattle conference on Tuesday. “When it comes to the cost of living, there is a clear connection between your utility prices and your energy costs and, in Arizona, your AC bills being higher than ever.”

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Republicans “are entirely focusing our energy portfolio on oil and gas,” explained Ansari, warning that getting rid of renewables “is a mistake when you’re talking about energy costs.”

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Before entering Congress this year, Ansari spent her career working on climate both internationally and locally.

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Now, she’s spending much of her time calling out President Donald Trump’s administration and the Republican-controlled Congress for cutting climate funding and rolling back climate policies. “Some of the legislation in recent weeks, especially the Trump budget bill – it represents some of the worst environmental rollbacks we’ve ever seen,” she said at the conference.

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Instead of focusing solely on the risks these bills pose to the climate, Ansari said Democrats should focus on how the legislation impacts people. Inflation ranks as one of the top three issues most concerning to Americans, while climate change ranks near the bottom, according to recent Pew Research Center polling.

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The recent tax legislation signed into law by Trump earlier this month, which pulls back federal support for new clean energy production, could cause electricity rates to increase between 9% to 18% by 2035, according to an analysis by the environmental think tank Energy Innovation. Beyond focusing on the impacts the bill will have, Ansari said, Democrats need to refine their vision for the future.

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“Now is a really important time for Democrats to plan when it comes to what is the legislation that we want to push forward when we have the House, and again when we have the trifecta” of both chambers of Congress and the presidency.

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