How the Partisan Gap Over Clean Energy Has Narrowed

A special podcast collaboration with Energy News Network about the shift in clean energy politics.

For years, polls have shown that conservatives of all stripes love renewable energy. 

The national political narrative still tends to divide parties on the issue, but they're mostly in lockstep with each other locally. Clean energy is a winning issue.

This week on The Interchange, we profile Bob Steinburg, a Republican North Carolina state senator who won a heated primary campaign last year after getting attacked for his stance on clean energy. Senator Steinburg believes his embrace of renewables helped him with conservative voters.

"I think the numbers show now if you are a Republican and you are [against] renewable energy, you're in serious trouble," he says, speaking on the podcast.

We also talk with Elizabeth Ouzts, a journalist at the Energy News Network, about how the issue played into Steinburg's campaign. She covered North Carolina races, where many local politicians who supported renewables won their seats.

“What we’re seeing in the way politicians are behaving is that clean energy is increasingly like mom and apple pie,” says Ouzts.

This episode was produced in partnership with the Energy News Network. Keep up with the Energy News Network for more in-depth coverage on the clean energy transition in the Southeast, Northeast, Midwest and West.

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