It was a very good election for the climate

Tuesday was a big election day for the planet, with climate initiatives and winning candidates across the country.

In races from New York to Georgia to Washington, voters supported funding for renewable energy, containing energy costs and expanding public transportation — and people promised to implement these policies. Overall, the results suggest that Americans oppose President Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back climate action.

“This election was a decisive rejection of the Trump administration’s ban on clean energy, multimillion-dollar taxpayer bailouts for dirtier, more expensive energy sources like coal, and other ineffective proposals that will drive up costs even further,” Sara Schreiber of the League of Conservation Voters said in a statement.

One of the most important victories of the day took place in New York, where Zohran Mamdani won the mayor’s race in a landslide victory announced just 35 minutes after polls closed. More than two million New Yorkers voted, the most in a mayoral race since 1969. Although Mamdani, who at 34 will be the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century, made affordability the predominant theme of his campaign, he gained support from the youth-led climate organization Sunrise Movement. Many saw his campaign promises, which included calls for free public transportation and greening public schools, as the seeds of a populist climate movement.

“Zohran was talking about climate action in a way that people could understand, and people were able to see the impacts of this climate action in their daily lives,” Denae Ávila-Dickson, the group’s communications and policy manager, told New York Focus. Dan Jasper, of the nonprofit group Project Drawdown, said Mamdani’s mass transit proposal “isn’t as sexy as something like solar power. But it’s exactly the type of policies we’re going to need to actually address climate change, because it’s about people’s living standards.”

Mamdani’s challenge will be to bring together the coalition needed to make these policies succeed. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who has also promoted a municipal Green New Deal agenda, may not have the same difficulties. Yesterday, Wu’s allies on the city council retained their seats, giving him a chance of success.

When it came to statewide elections, Georgia was a point of contention: There, electricity prices were on the ballot. Democrats won two of five seats on the Public Service Commission, a regulatory body that oversees public services and which has approved six bill increases in three years.

Democrats haven’t held a seat on the board since 2007, but clean energy consultant Peter Hubbard and anti-poverty advocate Alicia Johnson harnessed voter outrage over rising prices and won upset victories against Republican incumbents. Democrats also criticized Republicans for embracing fossil fuels and eschewing clean energy at a time when the state faces growing demand for electricity.

“I think many people who feel helpless in the face of rising utility bills, especially in a state like Georgia, where the price of the average household has increased by more than $500 in the last two years, can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that potential change is coming,” said Charles Hua, founder of PowerLines, a utility advocacy nonprofit.

Rising energy bills have also emerged as a major issue in other races, including the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. For political scientist Leah Stokes, who studies public opinion around climate change, Tuesday’s results were not unexpected.

“I think yesterday was a rejection of the idea that Americans don’t care about energy or climate and that these are losing issues, and that’s what all these pundits have been harping on about for about 9 months now. It’s really wrong,” Stokes said. “Regular people understand that clean energy is cheap energy – they can easily make those connections. »

In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill has pledged to declare a “state of emergency over energy costs” on her first day in office. It plans to deploy increased generation capacity, including rooftop solar and battery storage, and “immediately develop plans for new nuclear capacity.”

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger won the governor’s seat on a platform that included data center operators paying their own electricity costs in a region that currently hosts more than 13% of the world’s data center capacity. His “Affordable Virginia” plan included calls to expand wind and solar power, promote weatherization of homes to reduce energy use, and streamline permitting and other requirements for expanding production.

To the west, California voters approved Proposition 50, which will allow the state’s Democratic majority to bypass the statewide redistricting commission and redraw congressional districts before the 2026 midterm elections. While not, strictly speaking, a climate measure, the measure was designed to give Democrats up to five additional congressional seats. Gov. Gavin Newsom and a group of prominent Democrats nationally have championed the proposal as a counterbalance to Republican-led gerrymandering in states like Texas, where a similar effort earlier this year gained five new seats for the GOP.

In a speech Tuesday night, Newsom said California voters approved the measure “to send a message to Donald Trump. No crowns, no thrones, no kings. That’s what this victory represents.” [It] is a victory for the people of the State of California and the United States of America. »

Climate-friendly policies – those centered on public transport in particular – have also gained at the local level. Voters in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina — which includes the city of Charlotte — handily approved a 1 percent sales tax increase to fund nearly $20 billion in transportation improvements. Although 40 percent of the additional revenue will be allocated to roads, some of that funding will go toward new bike lanes and sidewalks. Another 40 percent will be dedicated to rail, and the rest will be dedicated to buses and microtransit. In Ellensburg, Washington, 65 percent of voters approved a permanent 0.02 percent sales tax to fund the municipal bus system.

Across the country, one thing was clear: wallet-friendly climate policies — and candidates running as helping people pay their bills — won. “Climate change is not at the forefront of every election, but at this point, every election is a climate election,” said Jasper of Project Drawdown. “‘Climate action equals affordability’ seems to be the winning message of the day. »

Emily Jones contributed reporting.