Adopting an “all-of-the-above” energy policy message will help Democrats show voters the party is serious about tackling the affordability crisis — and ultimately boost clean energy and the fight against climate change, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said in Monday’s episode of the POLITICO Energy podcast.
Gallego’s calls for Democrats to pivot to the more centrist position comes as soaring costs for gasoline and electricity are pushing up inflation and hitting voters in the wallet, and raising the party’s chances of winning control of Congress in the midterm elections in November.
That energy message should replace the climate change appeals that Gallego said causes many voters to shut off, since soaring fuel prices represent a more urgent problem than rising temperatures — even in Arizona, which suffers the nation’s worst heat waves and has been hard hit by climate-influenced drought.
“Honestly, it’s just so loaded,” Gallego said. “If our goal is to bring down our carbon footprint — try to restrain climate change — we need to win. And focusing on words versus outcomes, I think, is a real good pathway to losing.”
