You’ve probably noticed that Democrats are talking a lot less about climate change. But connecting clean energy to household bills proved to be a successful way to win voters in the elections across the US on Tuesday.

This off-year election was a pressure test of Democrats’ broad message on affordability and who voters hold accountable for the rising cost of electricity. Though President Donald Trump wasn’t on the ballot, most Democratic and independent voters pin the blame for high prices in general on the president. And most voters do recognize that state and local officials help decide how much they pay on their utility bills.

The results showed that by grounding climate action in the everyday math of household energy bills, Democrats may have finally found a way to make climate policy feel less abstract — and more like a winning issue.

How state races leaned into the power play

In New Jersey, Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, ran on a promise to fight skyrocketing energy bills. She even vowed to declare a state of emergency and freeze utility rates on day one in office. And it worked. Voters, who saw their household electricity bills rise by 20 percent this summer — compared to 11 percent across the US as a whole — trusted her to tackle the problem. Before the election, one poll showed that voters trusted Sherrill........

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