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.

Read along with us:

  • Energy News Network: In North Carolina, Renewable Energy Losing Its Edge as a Political Wedge
  • Energy News Network: What Will Midterm Elections Mean for North Carolina Energy Policy?
  • GTM: New Survey Shows That Renewable Energy Polls Extremely Well Among Trump Voters
  • New York Times: In Trump Country, Renewable Energy Is Thriving

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.