Four takeaways from the ‘energy election’

High prices and broken promises propelled the Democrats’ big midterm wins

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A Tesla drives through deep saltwater flooding along the roadside near the Intracoastal Waterway in Boynton Beach, Fla. late last month. Rising sea levels, king tides and heavy rainfall have swamped many areas in Florida over the past two weeks. Photo: Christopher Beckett/NurPhoto via AP.

(Bill Sternberg is a veteran Washington journalist and former editorial page editor of USA Today.)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Biblical rainfall fueled by a changing climate made Election Day an ordeal here on Florida’s east coast. People who hadn’t voted early had to navigate flooded roads to get to polling places that were changed at the last minute after a poorly forecast storm system inundated the region with more than a foot of rain.

But voters here, and elsewhere, were far less focused on global warming than they were about the prices at the gas stations they passed while attempting to drive to the polls. Those prices, combined with other economic concerns and disgust with government corruption, underlie the “blue tsunami” in Tuesday’s midterm elections that swept Democrats into control of both chambers of Congress.

Here are some key takeaways from the election results, with an eye toward what they mean for renewable energy and climate-focused investors: