If youâre a Democrat running in a red or purple district, listen up!
A couple weeks ago, I was in a briefing with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse all about home insurance prices.
I know, that probably sounds incredibly boring, but itâs not, itâs actually the most important conversation and issue across much of the US, especially in red areas.
92% of Texans say that home insurance costs are their most important issue.
Thatâs higher than care about healthcare OR groceries. Thatâs even significantly higher than the amount of Texans that own homes. Cause this effects renters too, and everyone WANTS to be able to own a home.
But itâs not just that they care about the issue, they also know what causes it. Yes, in Texas. 66% of Texans connect it DIRECTLY to climate driven extreme weather.
And thatâs not the only state.
In Florida, 44% OF TRUMP VOTERS connect it directly to âclimate changeâ yes, as a phrase. Not the concept of climate change reworded to be Republican friendly, but to actual âclimate change.â
Whitehouse has been going to Florida over the last few years to talk about home insurance costs and climate change. Heâs shocked that every time he goes, the local media covers it as if he was doing a big rally. It gets media attention no matter how in the weeds he gets, because this is something theyâre genuinely concerned about.
And heâs seeing this across all states, red and blue, anywhere there are extreme weather conditions.
In the next few years this could lead to recession. First is the climate risk, then the insurance market collapses, which dominoes into the mortgage market, property values plummet, and weâre back in the 2008 recession.
We fight back by winning elections, and getting these Republicans out of office. And we do that by making sure they are the ones getting the blame. Them and the fossil fuel industry, who knew the risks and did nothing to stop it.
This isnât partisan. I mean, it is at the governmental level, but it isnât when talking to people. Those most concerned about this are the Republicans in local chambers of commerce around the country. They are affected by this every day. So are realtors. And we have to show we are the ones listening. The Republican politicians and candidates are lying, but weâre listening.
Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve, is terrible on climate, BUT even he admitted, earlier this year, that in a decade there will be large swaths of the country where mortgages wonât even be available.
So we have to fight this now!
I went into this meeting knowing virtually nothing about home insurance. But I left thinking this is the issue all Dems running, especially in red and purple districts, should focus on.
Republicans are willing to listen on this one. Theyâre willing to hear the phrase âclimate change.â Especially in places with extreme weather, they have experienced this first hand.
We heard from a woman who lives in Ashland, NC, and a man on Pine Island, FL. They both said the same thing. Insurance companies would reimburse for less than half the work that needed to be done to make their homes livable again after recent hurricanes.
The woman, Nicole, said they demanded receipts for things like the roofing and dry wall, except the house was decades old by the time she bought it and she didnât have access to any of those things.
Home insurance is already becoming cost prohibitive, but not having it is even worse.
We have a real shot of convincing Republicans, on this issue specifically, that we are the ones who get it. And we know exactly who to blame and how to stop it.
Itâs not flashy, itâs probably not gonna get you attention online, but it will get votes, and at the end of the day, your district supporting you is what matters most anyway.
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