Democrats have been reeling since getting swept out of power in November, struggling to coalesce on a winning message on a host of matters, including climate change and renewable energy.
Now, they think they’ve hit on a strategy that will resonate with voters who have largely tuned them out amid concerns like inflation and immigration.
Call it climate populism.
“This is a relentless drumbeat,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said recently in response to a question from POLITICO’s E&E News. “Our theme is we’re on the side of working families; they’re on the side of the wealthy.”
The word is starting to spread among lawmakers, advocates and consultants. They are pointing to a report from Aurora Energy Research last month showing that the repeal of certain clean energy tax credits could increase monthly household electricity bills by an average of 10 percent.
A Rhodium Group report from December said rolling back certain IRA tax policies “could raise average household energy costs by as much as $489 a year in 2035.”
Making climate action a pocketbook issue shouldn’t be all that tough, said Holly Burke, senior communications director at Evergreen Action, which has been involved in the effort.
The goal, she said, is to remind lawmakers of “how popular these programs really are, and sort of give them that extra positive reinforcement that this is really a fight they can win, and that messaging intel that we can win this fight on costs and economic impact and jobs.”
Groups like hers have been helping Democratic offices with their messaging, sending them polling and statistics they can highlight with constituents who may be skeptical or unaware of the potential costs of slashing climate programs.
‘Calling out the bullshit’
The idea seems to have legs. In a series of posts about climate messaging on his X account last month, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) bluntly told his followers, “Climate inaction costs you money and puts you in danger.”
And Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, explained on the POLITICO Energy podcast last month that while that line of messaging isn’t new, “it never was pressed. It was never something that we took seriously.”
Their messaging took on a more urgent — and populist — tone after Trump took office and signed executive orders to undermine the clean energy and climate investments of the past several years.
The outcry heated up further last week when the administration froze hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for states and nonprofits to carry out federal projects, including on clean energy, water infrastructure and climate.
Democrats held a flurry of press conferences and took to social media to sound the alarm about the impacts that the administration’s actions could have on Americans.
“We are exposing what, actually, these [executive orders] do and who they benefit and who they hurt,” said Schumer.
There is a lot of work to do on that front, said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), a vice chair of the New Democrat Coalition’s Climate Change Task Force. He said members of his party now “need to do a better job of connecting the dots for people.”
“I think that we as Democrats just need to be calling out the bullshit,” he said. “As long as we stay focused on an energy policy that puts consumers first and provides the lowest-cost sources of energy, we’re fine.”
Seeking out GOP friends
Democrats say they’re clear-eyed about the challenges of being in the minority and the fact that most Americans don’t consider climate change as important an issue as immigration or the economy. But they’re confident that a retooled messaging agenda and fresh outreach to new and existing allies could help them stave off the most damaging attacks throughout the 119th Congress.
“I think the American people have figured out that it [Republican energy policy] is bad for clean air and water and for the livability of this planet,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee.
“It’s bad for them in terms of energy prices. They’ve been really suffering while the oil and gas oligarchs are rolling in record profits. So we got a lot of high ground on this, and we intend to use it.”
At the same time, multiple Democrats said they plan to make a broader appeal to the growing subset of House Republicans who have come out against GOP leaders’ effort to scrap clean energy subsidies through budget reconciliation.
Eighteen Republicans initially requested that the credits be protected in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last year. Twelve were reelected in November, and since then, at least five more have joined in.
“My hope is that those … House Republicans who sent the letter to Trump folks saying that it was very important for them, the clean energy tax credits, that they are really going to go to the mat for it,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who authored some of the IRA tax credit provisions.
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus and one of the 18 who signed onto the letter, indicated recently that she and like-minded Republicans don’t think they would tank a GOP bill because of attacks on clean energy subsidies.
But Democrats feel they could move some of those lawmakers in that direction. Indeed, some of those Republicans already seem inclined to team up.
“All I’ll tell you is in a three-seat majority, [12] is enough, right?” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), one of the original letter signers, said with a smile. “We’re always looking for more friends and folks who are across the aisle who want to work in good faith. We welcome that coalition.”
Democrats are hoping businesses and industry groups that now rely on the clean energy subsidies will do much of the heavy lifting.
“For Republicans to believe it and change their plans, they need to hear it directly from people back home,” said a Senate Democratic aide, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the ongoing outreach effort.
Wyden, whose office is engaged with businesses and advocates, said he is “getting a good response.”
He also acknowledged that there’s no guarantee that the messaging, outreach and collaboration will be enough to get Republicans to take climate issues more seriously. But, he said, it’s worth a shot.
“Am I confident?” he asked himself recently. “You’ve got to earn everything in a climate like this.”
Reporter Kelsey Brugger contributed.
This story also appears in Climatewire.
