Climate Candidates and Green Policies Score Major Election Wins

Tuesday’s elections delivered a resounding victory for environmental action, with climate-friendly candidates and initiatives winning across the country—signaling strong voter pushback against the Trump administration’s energy policies.

The biggest triumph came in New York City, where 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race in a landslide, drawing over two million voters—the highest turnout since 1969. While focused primarily on affordability, Mamdani’s campaign promises included free mass transit and greening public schools, earning him endorsement from the climate group Sunrise Movement. “Zohran was talking about climate action in a way people could understand,” said the organization’s political manager, highlighting how voters connected environmental policies to their daily lives.

Energy costs emerged as a decisive factor nationwide. In Georgia, Democrats won two seats on the Public Service Commission for the first time since 2007, with voters frustrated over utility bills that have risen by more than $500 per household in recent years. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s governor-elect Mikie Sherrill pledged to declare “a state of emergency on energy costs” and expand clean energy capacity, while Virginia’s new governor Abigail Spanberger campaigned on making data centers pay their own electricity costs.

Local transit measures also succeeded, with North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County approving $20 billion in transportation improvements and Washington state voters funding municipal bus systems. Political scientist Leah Stokes noted the results contradicted pundits’ claims that Americans don’t care about climate issues: “Everyday people understand that clean energy is cheap energy.”