When Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a law erasing the words “climate change” from state statutes in May 2024 – colloquially known as the “don’t say climate change” law – Democrats were outraged.
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Democrats → sign → law
Just six months later, many liberal politicians began to go quiet on the issue themselves.
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politicians → begin → issue
After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, mentions of the climate crisis started to disappear from Democrats’ rhetoric.
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mentions → win → rhetoric
As the 2026 midterms approach, that retreat is still shaping how some candidates talk about climate on the campaign trail.
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candidates → approach → trail
The trend, known as “climate-hushing”, may reflect the limitations of Joe Biden’s climate policies, said Daniel Aldana Cohen, assistant sociology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies climate politics and inequality.
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who → know → politics
Green jobs and housing investments fell short of the climate movement’s desires, consumer incentives disproportionately benefited wealthier households, and Democrats struggled to effectively communicate their accomplishments.
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Democrats → fall → accomplishments
The president has since rolled back many Biden-era clean energy incentives and regulations.
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president → roll → incentives
The climate crisis, however, is still rearing its head around the country, fueling the heatwaves, wildfires and floods plaguing communities around the US.
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crisis → rear → US
It also lurks behind issues animating voters, from datacenter expansion to rising home insurance rates.
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It → lurk → rates
And while some pundits have concluded from their polling and research that Americans don’t want to hear about global warming, other surveys directly contradict those findings.
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surveys → conclude → findings
“Maybe people don’t rank climate as their main or top issue … but nobody really experiences everyday life like walking around the world rank-ordering the things that they care about,” said Aldana Cohen, who is also founding co-director of the thinktank Climate and Community Institute that calls for “green economic populism”.
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that → rank → populism
“What’s important is to learn how to embed the climate issue organically amidst the other issues that people care most about.
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people → ’ → that
Some progressive and populist candidates in the US midterms are pushing back against climate-hushing, linking the issue to economic concerns and everyday struggles.
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candidates → push → concerns
Others aren’t speaking about it directly, but pushing for policies that could curb emissions.
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that → speak → emissions
Such efforts could help build a mass base for climate policies, said Aldana Cohen.
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Cohen → help → policies
“If we want to decarbonize fast enough and adapt to the impacts that are already here, we’re going to need a robust majority that backs those policies,” he said.
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he → want → policies
“Elite consensus alone will not suffice … we’re going to need like large numbers of people really enthusiastic about climate policies.
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we → suffice → policies
The Guardian spoke with three midterm candidates about how three issues with major environmental implications are shaping their campaigns.
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issues → speak → campaigns
Jane Kim, state director of the Working Families Party and a former San Francisco county supervisor, is running to become California’s next insurance commissioner.
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Kim → run → Party
The little-noticed but highly influential position oversees the state’s home, auto and business insurance markets.
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position → notice → markets
The frontrunner in the race, she received 27% of votes in the June primary.
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she → receive → primary
Among her key proposals is a single-payer system for disaster insurance, which she began developing as climate-fueled wildfires ravaged the state.
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wildfires → begin → state
California wildfires have catalyzed homeowners’ insurance crisis.
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wildfires → catalyze → crisis
Companies have stopped writing new policies and non-renewed thousands of homeowners in high-risk areas, making coverage increasingly difficult to find.
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coverage → stop → areas
Homeowners can turn to the California Fair Plan, the insurer of last resort, but it provides limited fire coverage rather than the broader protection of a typical homeowners policy.
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it → turn → policy
Kim argues that climate-fueled disasters are making catastrophic risk too large and socially consequential to leave to the private sector.
“The biggest change in the insurance industry in the past four years is the increase of climate disasters,” she said.
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she → argue → disasters
“We used to have a billion-dollar storm every three to four months, and it seems like we now have one every three weeks, so the price of risk has truly gone up.”
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price → use → risk
The scheme would create a public, government-run insurance program to cover wildfire damage for all homes, modeled on government-backed programs in New Zealand, France and Spain.
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scheme → create → Zealand
Homes would be automatically enrolled regardless of their condition, and owners would pay premiums based on property values, risk, and other factors.
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owners → enrol → values
Some aspects of the plan would require legislative approval.
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aspects → require → approval
Since the nonprofit program would not have to generate shareholder profits, Kim said investment returns could build a pool of money for future claims.
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returns → have → claims
It could also be designed to mitigate climate risk rather than simply avoid it, she added.
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she → design → it
“In New Zealand, they actually use a portion of premiums for fire-proofing and flood-proofing, because they guarantee home disaster insurance to everyone,” she said.
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she → use → everyone
Private insurers are also major institutional investors in oil and gas, which are fueling the climate crisis, said Kim – an issue she would uplift in office, though it is outside the direct purview of the role.
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it → fuel → role
Critics of the single-payer disaster scheme argue that shifting financial risk to the state could further destabilize California’s insurance market and leave taxpayers bearing a greater burden, and fear pricing risk either too high or too low could both cause major challenges.
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pricing → argue → challenges
Kim argues consumers are already paying too much for insurance.
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consumers → argue → insurance
She says revenues could be raised from a variety of places, including potentially by forcing state insurers to pay an “exit fee”.
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revenues → say → fee
She also says she does not aim to eliminate the private insurance market, but to bring in government where it falls short.
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it → say → government
“The current insurance system is a failure,” she said.
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she → say → ?
“Voters know that.”
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Voters → know → that
…and 61 more, not listed.
