VIDEO: North Carolinians Deserve Climate at the NC Senate Debates

Washington, D.C. –  Today, Climate Power 2020 released a new digital spot previewing the first North Carolina Senate debate between Senator Thom Tillis and Cal Cunningham scheduled for this evening. The video highlights the need for bold climate action in the state and why the climate crisis must be a focus in the Senate debates.

North Carolinians are already living with the dangerous consequences of the climate crisis and voters are strongly motivated by the climate issue, especially with the state still facing one of the worst hurricane seasons on record.

Despite this, Thom Tillis promotes an anti-climate agenda. Tillis lobbied Donald Trump to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement and opposed developing a stronger clean energy economy. Instead of doing something to tackle the threat of climate change, Tillis has taken $489,634 in 7 years from the oil and gas industry and supported tax breaks that gave the industry $25 billion and let Chevron pay nothing in federal income taxes.

Climate change-fueled hurricanes and extreme heat continue to hit the state hard. Eight hurricanes in the past decade have caused over $336.2 billion in damages and 551 deaths. North Carolina currently averages 10 extreme heat days each year – that number is projected to jump to almost 60 days by 2050. 60 percent of North Carolinians believe the President and Congress should do more to address climate change. A poll from Data for Progress also found that 62 percent of voters in North Carolina and other key battleground states believe that climate change should be a top priority.