If there is a winning message on climate change, Democrats have yet to find it. Despite the party’s passage of historic climate laws and policies under President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris’ messaging, or lack thereof, failed to sway enough voters. Even in states reaping Democrats’ clean energy spending windfall, such as Georgia and Pennsylvania, voters largely preferred Donald Trump. Now, as President-elect Trump and the coming GOP majority in Congress prepare its pro-fossil fuel, anti-environmental regulations agenda, Democrats are trying to find a way to effectively drive home the seriousness of climate change to the American people, writes Kelsey Brugger. “It’s time to fight,” Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts told activists gathered at George Washington University. But the right messaging remains elusive, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told Kelsey. "We tried the industrial policy argument and that was a huge failure," he said. "Unless you were lined up for a green job, it turned out nobody cared that much about green jobs." Whitehouse, who is slated to take the top Democratic spot on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said it’s time to talk more about how climate impacts are affecting people’s grocery bills and insurance premiums, as extreme weather upends agriculture and increases flood risks, for example. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) proposed framing climate messaging in terms of global competitiveness. "I think we need to make the case that leadership in electric vehicles means leadership in the race with China,” he told Kelsey. “Leadership on new steel means leadership in the race with China." Ultimately, however, polling shows that post-pandemic inflation, border security and the economy were the top issues in this election. Among voters who cared the most about those issues, Trump won decisively. “This election was not won or lost on climate or industrial policies,” said Sonia Aggarwal, a former special assistant to Biden on climate policy and now CEO of the group Energy Innovation. There’s no doubt that the coming catastrophe of unchecked climate change could devastate the economy, disrupt food production and distribution, exacerbate global migration and war, and increase the cost of daily life. The question is whether Democrats can convince voters of the severity of the issue and that they are the party to address it. “I am trying to make that happen,” Whitehouse said. “We’ll see if I succeed."
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