May 24, 2019 - Politics & Policy

Pressure grows for a Democratic climate debate

Ben Geman

This image is a two way split screen of Elizabeth Warren and Jay Inslee. — Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Photos: Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto and Scott Olson via Getty Images

We know 2020 Democrats are debating how to tackle climate change — but now there's growing pressure to have them do it on the actual debate stage.

Driving the news: 3 Democratic senators on Thursday wrote to NBC, host of the first primary debate in late June, urging them to devote a "significant" amount of time to climate.

"There are many ways to address the climate crisis, and voters want to know what policies each candidate supports," Sens. Brian Schatz, Sheldon Whitehouse and Martin Heinrich wrote.
The letter cites polls showing high primary voter interest.

Our thought bubble: NBC did not provide comment. And I don't really expect the network to say, "Sure, no problem, we'll let 3 senators dictate how we run our debate."

Yes, but: I think NBC is likely to include questions on the topic. And I bet we will see more than just glancing discussion in other debates too, a turnaround from past elections when it was largely absent.

The intrigue: 2020 hopeful Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is pushing the Democratic National Committee to set up a debate focused solely on climate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren backs the idea of a climate debate too, but the DNC has not endorsed it.

Go deeper: Climate change is a massive issue for Democrats in 2020

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Pressure grows for a Democratic climate debate

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