What makes a Big Climate Impact candidate?

Whether a candidate is Democratic, Republican, or a third party, we'd be happy to recommend them if they are proposing realistic paths to addressing climate change. Even better if they're an incumbent with a proven track record!

Of course, it's not quite that simple, because we want to use our votes strategically to maximize our impact.

1. How they approach climate change

There are at least three main categories of candidates on the issue of climate change:

1. Supports a wide-variety of steps to reach net zero emissions rapidly.
2. Has a platform of natural gas, nuclear and carbon capture.
3. Questions the "science" of climate change, instead talking about "natural cycles".

The first is the best. People will have arguments about which approaches to take and how much money to put toward each, but plans that reflect the far-reaching changes required are all worth discussing.

We need to keep a close eye on those that believe the science of climate change but offer up bogus or inadequate solutions. People pitching "clean coal" are not serious. People pushing for natural gas exports, nuclear, and carbon capture are at least discussing approaches that will reduce CO2 emissions and there's some hope that we can talk to them into more later.

A majority of Americans believe that global warming is caused by human activity and close to two-thirds see it as an urgent problem to address. Those that are claiming it's not happening are already in a shrinking minority, but they're still going to be impossible to work with to get anything done.

2. Electability and ability to boost other BCI candidates

Without a doubt, there will be third party candidates with worthy plans for climate policy, but unless their election is determined through ranked choice voting, they will almost certainly lose.

There may be a candidate who doesn't have a good plan for climate but whose election will provide more power to others who do through things like committee assignments. Barring a better candidate showing up, we may still support them.

3. We will not support an anti-democracy candidate

A disturbing number of candidates support baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and seek to make voting more difficult for millions of legitimate voters (a majority of whom they believe wouldn't vote for them). Such candidates would be bad for America, and they all also seem to have no desire to address climate change. These people will not find support on this site.

Conversely, we will support candidates who have stood up for democracy over those that don't. Sometimes, voting for one of these candidates even if they don't have a plan for climate change will be our best course of action. A majority of Americans support climate action, but if we're subject to minority rule we're not likely to get it.

Primaries vs. general election

Who we recommend in primaries may be unexpected.

• Many people don't vote in primaries, which means that it's actually easier to have a big impact with your vote there.
• There are many races around the country in which the winner of the primary will almost certainly win the general election.

It's that second point that is critical for our primary picks: If we know that a member of a given party is likely to win, we're going to want to pick the best candidate from that party. This has to be balanced against the fact that voters can only vote in a single party's primary race, so it's possible there may be House and Senate candidate choices from different parties. We'll work to be as specific and useful as we can in our voter guides.