Faced with an accelerating climate crisis, significant regulatory setbacks, and the passage of the first major climate legislation in United States history, moderators of U.S. Senate debates in 2022 should be engaging candidates in substantive discussions about climate change, as well as climate and energy policy.
Responding to public pressure, media scrutiny, and reality, the 2020 general election was a breakout year for climate coverage, culminating with an audience of millions watching the presidential nominees answer questions about climate change for the first time in 12 years. Since then, Congress has passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law on August 16 allocating a historic $369 billion in climate and energy provisions.
Other significant climate-related events include the Supreme Court’s June 30 decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, which severely curtailed the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Both 2021 and 2022 have also seen devastating, record-breaking extreme climate events that harmed the lives of millions of people.
As we did in 2016, 2018, and 2020, Media Matters is tracking how often debate moderators in 2022 ask candidates about climate change, which is a top issue for many voters. The scorecard will be updated after each debate.
We are focused on competitive U.S. Senate races — those ranked among the Cook Political Report as being a “toss-up,” “lean R,” or “lean D,” as of September 19 — in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.