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350.org on Senate Confirmation of ExxonMobil's Rex Tillerson as US Secretary of State
With spotlight on #ExxonKnew, Tillerson’s nomination most controversial and highly opposed in US history
WASHINGTON
Today, the US Senate voted 56-43 in favor of recent former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be the next Secretary of State.
In response, Bill McKibben, 350.org co-founder issued the following statement:
"For years much of America's foreign policy was formulated to benefit the oil industry. Now it's being formulated by the oil industry. There's no disguising the influence any more, which should make it easier to understand and to resist."
May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director said:
"A vote for Rex Tillerson is a vote for climate disaster. Negotiating oil deals with human-rights abusing heads of state does not qualify you to lead international diplomacy. The fight against Tillerson's nomination revealed just how much fossil fuel industry money has corrupted Congress. In the face of this corruption, we all must come together to fight for the renewable energy revolution and an economy that works for all of us."
Rex Tillerson's nomination was one of the most controversial and highly opposed in US history. Following Monday's cloture vote, Democrats took to the Senate floor for 30 hours of debate, expressing intense concerns around Tillerson's role in ExxonMobil's climate cover-up, his refusal to take a position on the unconstitutional Muslim Ban, and his close ties to countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia with recognized human rights abusers in power.
Former vice presidential candidate Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) used his time on the floor to shine a spotlight on Rex Tillerson's role in ExxonMobil's decades-long and ongoing campaign to deceive the public about climate change and block action at every level. At Tillerson's Committee hearing on January 11, the oil mogul danced around Sen. Kaine's questions on all that Exxon knew about climate change.
Recent reports on ExxonMobil's financials, where Tillerson spent his entire career, illustrate that Tillerson left ExxonMobil in far worse condition than when he took over. The corporation is currently under investigation by the attorney generals of Massachusetts and New York, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the less than two weeks of this new presidency, there has been an unprecedented outpouring of global resistance to Trump's corrupt regime: from millions participating in Women's Marches around the world, to tens of thousands at airports protesting Trump's Muslim Ban.
Groups will continue to demonstrate creative and cunning tactics in holding Rex Tillerson accountable in anticipation of foreign policy that prioritizes Big Oil at the expense of people and planet. Throughout the first 100 days of the Trump presidency, the People's Climate Movement is organizing actions across the country that will culminate with a People's Climate Mobilization on April 29 in Washington, DC.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
‘Time for Some Accountability’: Advocate Says Democrats Must Subpoena Corporate Price-Gougers
“Haul in corporate CEOs. Put them under oath. Make them answer for the rip-offs,” said Groundwork Collaborative president Lindsay Owens after the midterm elections.
Nov 05, 2026
After receiving a resounding mandate to act on America’s cost-of-living crisis, Democrats are considering bringing corporate executives before Congress in January.
The Washington Sun reported Thursday that House Democrats on the Judiciary and Oversight committees are examining a 181-page dossier created by Groundwork Collaborative, a consumer advocacy group that has chronicled “price gouging” by grocery chains and retailers like Walmart.
According to the Sun, the document singles out some of "the biggest tech giants, artificial intelligence labs, natural gas firms, private prisons and nursing home operators, among dozens of others," including for their alleged roles in driving up prices for cash-strapped Americans in recent years.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is expected to take over as chair of the House Judiciary Committee in January, told the Sun that his staff had been examining potential investigations, but he remained vague about his plans.
“We’re not targeting particular corporations,” Raskin said. “We’re targeting systems and networks of corruption, and to the extent corporations are involved, they are subject to the oversight project of Congress and our subpoena authority like everyone else.”
Democrats steamrolled across the map in Tuesday's midterms, with 48% of voters saying that the cost of living was the single most important issue motivating them, according to a pre-election survey by Reuters/Ipsos.
Lindsay Owens, Groundwork’s president and CEO, said that, to fulfill their campaign-trail promises to fight for “affordability,” Democratic lawmakers must relentlessly pursue accountability for corporate greed.
“Last night made it pretty clear: People are sick and tired of corporate America scheming its way to record profits while the rest of us get stuck with the bill,” she wrote on social media Wednesday. “Haul in corporate CEOs. Put them under oath. Make them answer for the rip-offs. Time for some accountability.”
In a Tuesday podcast appearance with Theo Von before the election, Owens said Democrats must zero in on what she has called corporate America’s “reinvention of the rip-off” over the past five years, which has involved increasingly targeted and sophisticated methods—including algorithmic price-fixing, junk fees, and subscription traps—to squeeze every possible cent out of consumers.
Rather than focusing solely on investigating President Donald Trump and his administration, Owens said Democrats also need to bring in "everyone from corporate America" and take them to task for their pricing tactics.
“Put the CEO of Walmart in the hot seat and [say], ‘Tell me what’s going on with Sparky,’” she said, referencing an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot the company launched last year. Executives have boasted during an earnings call that consumers who use the shopping assistant spend an average of 40% more per order than those who do not.
She said the CEO of DoorDash should also be called to testify over its planned "agitation index," which would have monitored users' scrolling speed, jerky movements, battery level, and other variables to adjust what they see on the app. The company withdrew its patent application for the technology two days after Owens testified before the US Senate, warning it could be used to hike prices on hungry customers.
The CEO of Uber, she said, should also be brought in to explain why customers have been charged dramatically different fares for the same route using algorithms that the company has said are based on what a consumer is willing to pay.
Much of what has already been documented about these practices comes from publicly available sources, such as patent filings and “the stuff they’re stupid enough to say to their investors” on earnings calls, Owens said.
But with control of House and Senate committees, she said, Democrats will have the power to force companies to "turn over their books, their algorithm... all of the stuff that they don't want us to see."
She said, "That will require ticking off some companies and ticking off some lobbyists and doing business a little differently than Washington has done business in the past."
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'If That's What's the American People Want,' Says Bernie Sanders, Let's Pass Medicare for All
"Our job is to do what the American people want and need."
Nov 05, 2026
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday made a case that Democrats should use their newfound majorities in the US Congress next year to pass Medicare for All legislation, and dare President Donald Trump to veto it.
Appearing on CNN, Sanders (I-Vt.) was asked by host Anderson Cooper how much he really expected to accomplish over the next two years with Trump still in the White House.
"Our job, Anderson, is to represent where working families are," Sanders replied. "The last poll that I saw, well over 60% of the American people want Medicare for All, they know the current system is broken and incredibly expensive. If that's what the American people want, let's do it!"
“Trump is a funny guy, I don’t think he’s all that ideological. I think he’s a politician and I’m not so sure that he will react all that negatively to a progressive agenda, believe it or not.”Bernie Sanders on pushing for a progressive agenda despite Trump having veto powers. https://t.co/dY0eEehzQh
— Substance (@SimplySubstance) November 5, 2026
Sanders then addressed concerns about Trump blocking the legislation.
"If Trump wants to veto it, that's his constitutional right," he said. "I'm not so sure, by the way, that he will because Medicare for All is extremely popular... Our job is to do what the American people want and need, Trump can do what he wants. But Trump is a funny guy, you know, I don't think he's all that ideological, I think he's a politician, and I'm not so sure he'll react all that negatively to a progressive agenda."
Sanders in recent days has been joined by fellow progressives, including Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), in pushing the new Congress to pass Medicare for All.
While it's certain to be a battle in Congress, even with Democratic majorities, Sanders argues that the party must not waste the opportunity that has now been put before them.
"The American people spoke loudly and clearly on Tuesday," Sanders said in a 15-minute recorded missive to the nation posted online. "The new Democratic majority cannot continue the same old, same old establishment policies. Working families want change, REAL change, and that’s what Democrats must deliver."
The American people spoke loudly and clearly on Tuesday. The new Democratic majority cannot continue the same old, same old establishment policies. Working families want change, REAL change, and that’s what Democrats must deliver. https://t.co/gCbDLLQM4O
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 5, 2026
"Yes, we must repeal the $1 trillion in cuts Trump made to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to prevent 15 million Americans from losing their healthcare," Sanders continued. "Yes, we must restore ACA tax credits to stop the outrageous premium spikes for 20 million Americans, but that is nowhere near enough. Healthcare must be considered as a human right, not a privilege. That means passing Medicare for all legislation now supported by 66% of the American people."
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Thomas Massie Gives Pete Hegseth a Choice: Resignation or Impeachment
"There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns," wrote Republican Rep. Thomas Massie.
Nov 05, 2026
Republican US Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Wednesday that Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, the most prominent cheerleader and architect of the Trump administration's illegal war on Iran, will face an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives—unless he submits his resignation first.
"There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns," Massie, who unveiled eight impeachment articles against the Pentagon secretary in September, wrote following Democrats' rout of the GOP in Tuesday's midterm elections. Massie is expected to force a vote on the articles—which accuse Hegseth of extrajudicial killings, waging wars without congressional authorization, and kidnapping a sovereign foreign leader—as soon as next week.
The Kentucky Republican's ultimatum came as CNN reported that a "knives-out campaign" against Hegseth intensified following the midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of the House and Senate beginning in January.
"Many Republican lawmakers and allies alarmed by Tuesday’s wipeout are moving swiftly to pin blame for the election results on Hegseth, arguing behind the scenes that he played a chief role in convincing Trump to attack Iran with no exit strategy—and no plan for managing the inevitable political fallout," CNN reported.
It's unclear whether Massie's impeachment articles have enough Republican support to pass in the lame-duck House, which is narrowly controlled by the GOP.
President Donald Trump, who launched the illegal war on Iran in February and has threatened to escalate the assault following the midterms, insisted Wednesday that he has "every intention to keep" Hegseth in his post. (Trump has previously defended top administration officials in public just before firing them.)
NBC News reported Wednesday that Trump "has told some of his allies in recent days that he’s considering replacing" Hegseth, who has gleefully boasted of the "death and destruction" that the US military has inflicted on Iran, where American bombs have killed thousands of people—including many children.
The looming impeachment effort comes amid rumors that Hegseth is eyeing the US Senate seat that Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) will vacate after winning Tennessee's gubernatorial election on Tuesday. Puck reported last month that Hegseth "has been angling" for Blackburn to appoint him to the seat once she takes office—a story that Hegseth denied through a spokesperson.
Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocacy organizations have expressed support for Hegseth's impeachment. Last week, as Common Dreams reported, Free Speech For People and two other national advocacy groups endorsed Massie's articles, calling them "a clear opportunity for Congress to hold Hegseth accountable for his dangerous abuses of power."
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the lone Iranian American Democrat in Congress, introduced her own articles of impeachment against Hegseth in April, accusing the Pentagon secretary of targeting civilians in Iran and other abuses.
"Impeach Pete Hegseth," Ansari wrote Wednesday in response to the Pentagon secretary's election-day social media post urging Americans to turn out to vote.
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Mamdani Joins Call for Democrats to Deliver for Working Class With Progressive 'Mandate'
"It is not enough to simply win power. We must use it," said the mayor. "And the American people will know the difference between hollow words and hard work."
Nov 05, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday evening joined the call for Democrats in Congress to ensure they deliver on the progressive "mandate" delivered by voters across the US in Tuesday's midterm elections, declaring that "it is not enough to simply win power."
"We must use it," said the mayor. "And the American people will know the difference between hollow words and hard work."
The democratic socialist, who has a 69% favorability rating among New Yorkers, according to a recent Siena poll, commented on the historic election results in a video posted on social media, saying, "It's morning again in America."
Like other progressives on Wednesday, the mayor suggested that with their new majorities in the US House and Senate, Democrats must deliver major legislative action to materially improve Americans' lives—or risk rapidly losing voters' confidence and the next elections.
"People are tired of being told there isn't enough to go around while Elon Musk becomes the world's first trillionaire," said the mayor, an advocate for Medicare for All, universal childcare, and raising taxes on the country's richest people to pay for social services that would benefit all households. "They are tired of being told to ask for little, and expect even less. And last night, the people stood up."
It's morning again in America. https://t.co/zywVt0FW46
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) November 4, 2026
Mamdani also appeared on NBC News with anchor Kristen Welker, who asserted that "with the exception of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, nearly all of the Democrats' biggest statewide victories were more moderate candidates."
Welker did not provide examples to back up the claim, and neglected to mention two key statewide races in which progressive leader Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed and campaigned with successful left-wing candidates: Sens.-elect Peggy Flanagan (D-Minn.) and Troy Jackson (D-Maine).
Beyond that, Mamdani emphasized that regardless of whether Tuesday's victories were by candidates who identified themselves as progressives or received endorsements from Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and other top left-wing leaders who push aggressively for economic justice, they sent a clear message about what voters across the country want from Congress.
"When we're thinking about James Talarico, we're talking about someone who campaigned on universal pre-K. When we're talking about Annie Andrews, we're talking about somebody who campaigned on an end to endless wars. When we're talking about Keisha Lance Bottoms, we're talking about somebody who campaigned on streamlining the construction of affordable housing," said Mamdani, referring to the Democratic senators-elect in Texas and South Carolina and the governor-elect in Georgia.
"Those are all hallmarks of what progressive governance also looks like in this country, and I think it's critically important that when we look at these victories, no matter where they are across the United States, that we understand the unity of purpose that comes out of it," said Mamdani.
Zohran explains how progressives have a MANDATE after last night’s election https://t.co/1KGcLd5A6V
— Secular Talk (KyleKulinskiShow@bsky.social) (@KyleKulinski) November 5, 2026
Justice Democrats co-founder Saikat Chakrabarti suggested that the corporate media must look past whether candidates called themselves "progressives" or "moderates."
"It’s about the promises these campaigns made," said Chakrabarti. "They promised to end endless wars, take on corporate power, make healthcare available to all. They’ll be held accountable to those promises, and if Democrats don’t deliver, we’ll lose."
In another interview with MeidasTouch, Mamdani added that the election results had provided Democrats with an "opportunity to understand that there is only one majority in this country, and that's the working class."
"Whether you're a working-class American who's living in California, whether you're living in Minnesota, whether you're living in Texas or South Carolina," said the mayor, "you deserve dignity that you can actually measure and feel in your life."
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Van Hollen Says No Rubber Stamp for Schumer as Majority Leader Without Support for 'Bold Agenda'
"It’s not a time for incrementalism," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen. "It’s a time to move forward a very bold kitchen table agenda."
Nov 05, 2026
A top progressive senator on Wednesday said Democrats should not commit to supporting Sen. Chuck Schumer to lead the caucus after the party's historic midterm wins without demanding his support for a "bold agenda" that reflects the needs of the American public, which is facing a worsening cost-of-living crisis under President Donald Trump.
"Working people have been screwed for way too long, and we need to unrig an economy that’s been built to serve billionaires and big corporations,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who previously led Senate Democrats' campaign arm, told Bloomberg in an interview. “It’s not a time for incrementalism. It’s a time to move forward a very bold kitchen table agenda.”
Van Hollen, a vocal critic of US support for Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza and a supporter of Medicare for All, has indicated that he does not intend to run for Senate majority leader himself. But the senator said Wednesday that "no one should be committing to anybody as the next Democratic leader" without first discussing how the party plans to advance an ambitious policy agenda.
"We need commitments," Van Hollen told Bloomberg.
The senator's remarks came as two prominent progressive advocacy groups, Indivisible and Our Revolution, called for the Senate Democratic caucus to move past Schumer.
"Contact your senators and demand they oppose another term for Chuck Schumer as leader—and insist on a public and transparent process for choosing new leadership," Indivisible wrote in a series of social media posts on Wednesday. "Schumer has a lower approval rating than Trump. After our seismic wins, we need new leadership to define this new era of politics."
Yesterday, voters made it very clear that they want a new generation of Democratic fighters.We need a leader in the Senate who is capable of leading that fight.It’s time for Senate Democrats to choose new leadership.
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— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) 1:50 PM · Nov 4, 2026
Schumer, who has headed the Senate Democratic caucus for nearly a decade, brushed off potential challenges to his leadership on Wednesday, telling reporters with certainty, "I'll be reelected as majority leader."
But several newly elected Democratic senators—including Adam Hamilton of Kansas, Troy Jackson of Maine, Juliana Stratton of Illinois, and Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota—have explicitly said they would not support Schumer for leadership, raising the possibility of a significant revolt following the party's midterm wipeout of the GOP. Other senators-elect, including James Talarico of Texas and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, have declined to endorse Schumer for the leadership post, saying the party should explore other options.
"We are at the point of a new movement in this country," Flanagan said Wednesday. "Many of us were elected who refused corporate PAC money and are only beholden to the people who elected us—and are ready to fight for bold change."
"I think it's time for a new leadership," she added, "and I'm eager to work in partnership with my new colleagues to get that done."
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Democratic Domination of Midterms Sparks Hope for Medicare for All
"Affordability was top of mind for voters last night, and within that, healthcare is an enormous driver."
Nov 04, 2026
"WHO WANTS MEDICARE FOR ALL?"
US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked that question, in all caps, on social media late Tuesday as he won reelection and joined others from his party in trouncing President Donald Trump's Republicans across the country, securing majorities in both chambers of Congress thanks to voters frustrated by an affordability crisis under a GOP trifecta.
Although some races haven't yet been called, and key Democrats such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New Yorker likely to become the next speaker, don't support shifting the United States to a universal public healthcare system, the Democratic "tsunami" on Tuesday still revived hope that the results could help the fight for Medicare for All.
Democrats reclaimed both the US Senate and House of Representatives after Trump and congressional Republicans last year used their budget package, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to slash Medicaid spending and allow Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire—which has already led to millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage.
The wave of Democratic wins also came nearly five months after a coalition of over 325 organizations argued that "now is the time to organize" for Medicare for All, given that "we may face a once-in-a-generation opportunity to legislate on healthcare in 2029."
While—as the coalition suggested—passing federal Medicare for All legislation would likely require not only a Democrat-controlled Congress but also replacing Trump with a progressive president in 2028, the midterm results are still being seen by voters and elected officials alike as "a mandate to deliver big change" over the next two years.
"Wins by progressive candidates will jumpstart a national discussion of Medicare for All," said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF. "Medicare for All isn't going to pass in the next two years. But, newly prominent advocates will have a platform to make sure it's part [of] the discussion, carrying through to the 2028 primaries."
Even without support from party leaders and the White House, Democrats may still push for congressional hearings or even votes on single-payer policies before the 2028 elections.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), lead sponsor of the Medicare for All Act in the House, told Punchbowl News this week that she wants to mark up the bill next year and fight for a vote on the floor: "I want to make sure we have the requisite number of co-sponsors, and I’m hoping that our leadership is part of helping to make that happen."
As Forbes reported:
Several Democrats who won seats in the US Senate and the US House of Representatives made Medicare for All or a public option key parts of their winning campaigns. Such ideas will likely get more airtime now that Democrats control both houses of Congress in a rebuke of Trump administration policies that have slashed healthcare spending.
Exactly what form a "public option" would take [is] unclear, but such a choice being offered to Americans alongside private and existing health insurance coverage would seem more achievable than replacing the existing health insurance system with Medicare for All.
The American Prospect pointed out that Medicare for All supporters who emerged victorious on Tuesday include Rep.-elects Claire Valdez, Brad Lander, and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York's 7th, 10th, and 13th districts, along with "Democratic Georgia state Rep. Dr. Jasmine Clark, who won more than 81% of the vote to represent Georgia's 13th District; Democrat Melat Kiros, who beat nearly 30-year incumbent Republican US Rep. Diana DeGette to represent Colorado's 1st District; and Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George, who will be Washington, DC’s first new mayor in more than a decade."
Among the victors in the US Senate were Democrats Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and Troy Jackson of Maine, also both vocal backers of Medicare for All. Jayapal highlighted that "Abdul was up against millions of dollars in dark money from Republican donors—and today Michigan voters sent a clear message that their state and their votes are not for sale."
"Abdul ran a strong campaign on Medicare for All, refused corporate [political action committee] money, and stayed focused on working families from day one to Election Day," she added. "I am so proud to have stood with him throughout his campaign and I cannot wait to work with him in Washington to deliver for you."
From leading a border blockade to protect loggers' wages, to the state legislature and President of the Maine Senate, Troy has spent his life fighting for working Mainers. We look forward to organizing with Sen.-elect Jackson to pass Medicare For All and secure a federal right to abortion.
— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) November 4, 2026 at 1:01 AM
The leading voice for Medicare for All in the upper chamber, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), worked to elect both El-Sayed and Jackson, as well as several leftist House candidates who won. He wrote on social media Wednesday that "last night saw some of the greatest progressive victories in modern American history. All across the country, in rural and urban areas, Americans said NO to oligarchy, and YES to an agenda that fights for the working class."
Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, is expected to chair the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions when the party takes over in January, and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), another Medicare for All backer, will likely lead the Finance Committee, as STAT Washington correspondent John Wilkerson noted Wednesday—predicting that "the wins that Democrats amassed on Tuesday night could breathe life into efforts to create some type of a single-payer system."
Yale University researchers estimated in August that Sanders' related legislative proposal could save over 114,000 lives and $1 trillion annually. In response to those findings, the senator said that "at a time when 15 million Americans are being thrown off the healthcare they have and 20 million Americans have already seen their premiums double, on average, as a result of Trump's so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill,' we need Medicare for All now more than ever."
A KFF survey released last month found that 66% of Americans—including 84% of Democrats, 72% of independents, and 34% of Republicans—support Medicare for All, the highest level of support since the organization began tracking the proposal.
Sharing KFF data on how the average US family's health insurance premium has soared over the past quarter-century, The Tennessee Holler declared on social media Wednesday: "Medicare for All. Now. We can't afford not to do it. It isn't radical to support it. It's radical to oppose it."
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'Officially a Green Wave Too': Climate and Eco Champions Triumph in Historic Midterms
"Voters across the country supported candidates who pledged to cut energy costs, end corruption, and take on corporate greed. That’s the exact framework we need to push a bold clean energy and polluter pays agenda," Jamie Henn of Fossil Free Media said.
Nov 04, 2026
Tuesday's historic rebuke of President Donald Trump's policies and party was also a major victory for the climate and environment, campaigners said, as Democratic control of Congress gives lawmakers a chance to check the president's pro-pollution and pro-extinction agenda.
Up and down the ballot, voters elected candidates who champion climate action and holding wealthy polluters accountable while rejecting data centers and tech and fossil-fuel spending blitzes.
"Voters just overwhelmingly repudiated the most anti-environmental, pro-fossil fuel administration in US history," Jamie Henn, the director of Fossil Free Media, told Common Dreams. "This was a historic climate victory in disguise. Voters across the country supported candidates who pledged to cut energy costs, end corruption, and take on corporate greed. That’s the exact framework we need to push a bold clean energy and polluter pays agenda."
"Climate politics are back on the table, and we plan to fight for them."
"Last night’s election opens the door for plenty more states to pass climate legislation, like climate superfund bills, and block industry attempts to hold back clean energy or immunize themselves from climate damages," Henn said.
Affordability and Corruption Are Climate Issues
While climate and the environment took a backseat in election rhetoric and reporting to issues like affordability and corruption, many winning candidates who champion reducing inequality and challenging corporate greed—such as Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.) and Reps.-elect Chris Rabb (D-Pa.), Claire Valdez (D-NY), and Melat Kiros (D-Colo.)—also back policies such as a Green New Deal and holding polluting industries accountable. Also in Michigan, Democratic Rep.-elect Will Lawrence was a co-founder of the climate focused Sunrise Movement.
"Ardent advocates of climate and environmental action and justice who loudly rejected Trump and the Republican attack on both are now heading to and returning back to Congress and to offices across the nation," environmental investigative journalist Antonia Juhasz wrote on social media. "It’s officially a Green Wave too."
Kidus Girma, Sunrise Movement's campaign director, told Common Dreams that on Tuesday, "Young people proved that progressive ideas like the Green New Deal are just as popular in central Michigan as they are in Brooklyn."
"Working people in America no matter where they live want the same thing—good green jobs, a pause on data centers, and a system that works for people, not billionaires," Girma said. "Climate politics are back on the table, and we plan to fight for them."
SUNRISE CO-FOUNDER @WeWill2026 IS HEADED TO CONGRESS!!!A climate leader just unseated a Republican by running against data centers. Green New Deal, here we come. https://t.co/k2r87awJZg
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) November 4, 2026
Climate advocates pointed out that issues such as the high price of gas due to Trump's illegal war on Iran are intimately connected with the dependence on a fossil fuel industry that is empowered to profit from energy crises.
"Climate change may not have dominated the election, but the consequences of our dependence on fossil fuels certainly did," said Cassidy DiPaola, the communications director at Fossil Free Media and spokesperson for the Make Polluters Pay campaign, in a statement. "Americans are struggling with high gas prices, rising energy bills, and mounting climate disaster costs while Big Oil rakes in record profits and spends millions buying influence in Washington."
Further, the backlash against the AI data centers build-out, reflected in massive wins for data centers moratoriums and anti-data center candidates, is also a major climate victory, as the Sierra Club projects that the use of fossil fuels to power new data centers will increase power sector emissions by 42% by 2030 when compared with 2025 levels, undoing 15 years of climate progress in electricity generation.
"Millions of voters cast their ballots in frustration over data centers, corporate greed, and Trump’s egregious giveaways to fossil fuel CEOs and other industry cronies," Brett Hartl, the national political director at the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, said in a statement.
Elizabeth Bast, executive director at Oil Change Action, said in a statement that "voters send a clear message: They’re fed up with Trump’s agenda of fossil fuel giveaways, illegal and immoral wars, and unchecked data center expansion that makes their lives more expensive while lining the pockets of Big Oil and Big Tech,"
Bast continued: "Affordability and accountability were voters’ top concerns this election cycle. Both are inseparable from fossil fuel dependence. Americans have spent an additional $101 billion on gas since the start of Trump’s war on Iran, highlighting the dangers of fossil fuel reliance. Meanwhile, Trump increased his wealth by tens of millions through stock trades made profitable by his war—a blatant example of this administration’s corruption."
Big Oil Bet and Lost
One major theme of the midterms was the ability of the "many" to beat the "money," as El-Sayed put it in his victory speech. Big spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Big Tech oligarchs including Elon Musk failed to force their preferred candidates over the finish line.
This was equally true of Big Oil, as Emily Atklin detailed in a race-by-race breakdown for Heated. On the national level, Chevron, Koch, Energy Transfer, and the American Petroleum Institute gave a combined $25 million to keep Republicans in charge of Congress, only to see the Democrats retake both the House and Senate. Chevron also gave $200,000 each to losing GOP candidates Ken Paxton in Texas and Sen. Susan Collins in Maine.
Lawrence, the Sunrise Movement alum, triumphed over the combined forces of Musk and other GOP insiders in what was the nation's most expensive House race.
"Lawrence mobilized voters and volunteers by his long-standing commitment to putting working-class families over billionaire polluters and data center developers. His campaign estimates it knocked more doors than any other House Democratic race," Oil Change's Bast said.
Mya Lega, a Lawrence campaign spokesperson, told Common Dreams: “Michiganders want our land, air, and water protected from AI data centers, polluters, and corporate oligarchs. Will Lawrence built his career on standing up to them. In the House, he’ll be a leading voice against the Trump administration’s rollbacks on environmental protections and handouts to corporations and oligarchs.”
The victory of people over money was true of more local races as well, as in Georgia where voters flipped the Georgia Public Service Commission to Democratic control despite fossil fuel spending on behalf of Republican candidates, while voters in Colorado rejected an industry-backed attempt to enshrine a right to use or sell natural gas in the state constitution.
This is...a much bigger deal than you might think. So many thanks to everyone at @thirdactorg.bsky.social and elsewhere who fought so hard for this winthecurrentga.org/2026/11/03/d...
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— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben.bsky.social) November 4, 2026 at 8:19 AM
"Fossil fuel money is one of the most powerful forces in American politics. It is the biggest obstacle we face in preserving a livable climate for everyone on Earth," Atkin wrote. "But it is not invincible. Not even close."
Further, the appetite for getting money out of politics was reflected in votes on energy and climate issues. In Michigan, voters approved Proposition 2 to bar publicly regulated utilities from giving funds to state and local candidates. And nationwide, more than 65 congressional candidates who had signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge won their races.
“Big Oil and Big Tech have poured enormous amounts of money into this election to protect their power and profits," Bast of Oil Change wrote. "Across the country, candidates who refuse fossil fuel money have won elections, proving that Big Oil's money is no match for the power of organized communities."
A Win for Wildlife
Beyond climate and energy concerns, Defenders of Wildlife celebrated Tuesday's results as a check on Trump's gutting of protections public lands and endangered species.
“For those of us working to protect America's wildlife and wild places, this is a moment of renewed hope and possibility," the group's president and CEO, Andrew Bowman, said in a statement. “Over the past two years, we have faced extraordinary challenges, including relentless efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act, roll back protections for public lands, and undermine decades of conservation progress."
Bowman continued: "A new Congress offers opportunities to defend bedrock environmental laws, strengthen congressional oversight, and advance conservation priorities that have faced significant political headwinds. It also creates new possibilities for bipartisan cooperation around something we know transcends political divisions: America's shared commitment to wildlife and our natural heritage."
'Rallying Cry'
Following Tuesday's win, climate and environmental campaigners urged victorious candidates to consider their election as a mandate to protect public health and the environment and to hold polluters accountable for harm and corruption.
They also urged current members of Congress to reject the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), a bill that advocates argue would gut current regulations to clear the way for more fossil fuel and data centers projects.
“The midterm results are a rallying cry for Democrats to use their newfound power to rein in Trump. Democrats must not cut deals in the lame duck that bolster Trump and give Republicans wins but instead lay the foundation to end Trump’s corrupt anti-environmental crusade for good," the Center for Biological Diversity's Hartl said.
“Voters gave Democrats control of Congress to advance policies that uplift communities, not offer sweetheart giveaways to corporate polluters and data centers, like the Senate permitting reform bill,” Hartl continued. “Trump has done so much damage to our public lands, wildlife habitats, and clean air and water protections in the last two years. Democrats must take ownership of their new mandate right now and start changing the conversation in Congress.”
"For newly elected leaders looking to establish themselves as champions of the working class, taking on Big Oil is an obvious place to start."
Earthworks policy director Lauren Pagel warned: "In the coming weeks this administration and current Congress will treat the lame-duck session like a fire sale on essential environmental and health protections and the rights of tribal governments. It is critical we stop them before they do even more damage to our air, water, land, sacred places, and the health of our communities."
She argued that this started with rejecting BAAJA: "This legislation that the Senate will likely consider next week would permanently undercut the ability of communities to say no to dangerous oil, gas, and mining projects in their backyards."
Bast of Oil Change agreed, saying: "Democrats have a clear mandate to rein in Big Oil and Big Tech. They must seize the opportunity to do so, first by rejecting the currently proposed permitting deal... and then by taxing Big Oil’s windfall profits in the incoming Congress."
The Environmental Protection Network (EPN), an organization made up of more than 800 former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency, called on the new Congress to hold Trump's EPA to account for failing in its mission to protect people and the environment from pollution and to restore it to its prior function and scientific rigor.
“Americans understand that when corporations aren't held accountable for their pollution, ordinary families end up paying the price,” EPN's senior director of public affairs, Marc Boom, said in a statement. “Our polling shows that 81% of registered voters surveyed believe the costs of pollution are being shifted onto families. The incoming Congress has an opportunity and a responsibility to hold EPA and the rest of the federal government accountable and make sure they're doing their jobs to protect public health and leave families safer, not sicker.”
Others urged the new Congress to take the opportunity to hold Big Oil accountable as well.
So when are we scheduling the live hearings with Big Oil CEOs?
— Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) November 4, 2026
"Americans are struggling with high gas prices, rising energy bills, and mounting climate disaster costs while Big Oil rakes in record profits and spends millions buying influence in Washington," DiPaola said in a statement. "Voters made clear they're fed up with corporate greed and politicians who put wealthy donors ahead of working families. Now Democrats have a chance to prove they're serious about changing that. For newly elected leaders looking to establish themselves as champions of the working class, taking on Big Oil is an obvious place to start."
She continued: "We want to see oil executives hauled before Congress to answer for their profiteering and political influence. We want a windfall profits tax that puts money back in working people's pockets, climate superfund laws that make polluters pay for the damage they've caused, and an end to Big Oil's push for special legal immunity. Democrats have won the power to take on one of the wealthiest and most politically connected industries in America, and we expect them to use it."
Aaron Regunberg, who directs Public Citizen’s Climate Accountability Project, agreed.
"Democrats across the country ran on a pledge to lower the costs of essentials and take on corporate corruption. They just won a massive mandate to do just that. And you can't achieve those goals without fighting for Big Oil accountability," he told Common Dreams.
He continued: "Democrats have an opportunity to crack down on fossil fuel profiteering and haul Big Oil CEOs in to investigate their corrupt dealings with Trump. It would be a huge mistake to not seize this huge opportunity."
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'Power of the Purse': Schumer Indicates Democrats Will Defund Trump's Illegal Iran War
"We are going to end the war."
Nov 04, 2026
Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday indicated that his party will defund President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran when it takes over as the majority next year.
While speaking with reporters, Schumer (D-NY) was asked how Democrats planned to end the war, which Trump launched without congressional authorization in February.
"We are going to end the war," said Schumer. "We already have some Republicans who have joined us in ending the war. And the Founding Fathers had the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people."
Q: How are Democrats going to end the war?SCHUMER: The Founding Fathers had the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people https://t.co/UZdb601W7h
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 4, 2026
Democrats on Tuesday secured majorities in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, and Democrats will have at least 54 members in the congressional upper chamber.
Earlier this year, four Republicans in the Senate—Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)—voted with the vast majority of Democrats to pass a war powers resolution aimed at compelling Trump to end the Iran War.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the lone Democrat to oppose the measure.
While Cassidy and Collins will leave office at the end of this year, a full majority in both chambers of Congress will enable Democrats to go beyond passing war powers resolutions and cut off funding for the US Department of Defense until Trump agrees to wind down the conflict.
Schumer's remarks on defunding the war came shortly after Vice President JD Vance posted a message on social media acknowledging that voter dissatisfaction with the war, and the subsequent rise in energy prices caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, were the major reasons for Republicans' defeat.
"The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote. "The president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost."
Vance's statement also earned the endorsement of Donald Trump Jr., who may or may not have understood that it was an implicit criticism of his father's decision-making.
"Every word of this," the president's eldest son—who, along with Vance, may run for the White House in 2028—wrote in response to the vice president.
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California Billionaire Tax Headed for Defeat After $300+ Million Ad Blitz by Superrich
"If you spend enough on ads, you really can get people to vote against their own interests," lamented one observer.
Nov 04, 2026
Proposition 40, the California proposal for a one-time 5% tax on the state's billionaires, appeared headed for defeat Wednesday after a spending blitz exceeding $300 million by some of the state's wealthiest residents helped turn a potentially landmark effort to make plutocrats pay their fare share into one of the most expensive ballot fights in state history.
With around 60% of expected votes counted, Prop 40—also known as the California Billionaire Tax—was losing by a 56% to 44% margin, according to CalMatters and The Associated Press, which had not yet projected the final outcome due to the significant number of uncounted ballots.
The measure, which is sponsored by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of California residents and trusts worth more than $1 billion. Affecting approximately 200 billionaires, Prop 40 would generate tens of billions of dollars to help fund healthcare, food assistance, and public education programs facing funding pressures, including cuts resulting from President Donald Trump's attacks on Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other social safety net lifelines.
Polling showed a majority of California voters—55%—supporting Prop 40 last December, buoyed by the backing of prominent national figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
In early 2026, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other tech billionaires began pouring money into efforts to oppose the initiative and support competing ballot measures, Propositions 41 and 42, which were specifically designed to undermine or nullify Prop 40.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom also came out against Prop 40. Critics accused the potential 2028 presidential contender of trying to bamboozle voters with a plan for a national billionaire income tax, knowing that very rich people actually have relatively little income when compared with their investments and other assets that would be subject to taxation under Prop 40.
By June, Prop 40 was polling under 50%. By October, with a deluge of anti-Prop 40 ads flooding the airwaves and internet, support barely topped 40%.
According to CalMatters, billionaires and business interests spent $316.7 million on the campaign against Prop 40, including spending on Props 41 and 42. Most of that money was raised by Building a Better California, a political action committee funded by prominent tech executives, venture capitalists, and business leaders.
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, opponents of Prop 40 outspent supporters of the measure by a staggering 250: 1 margin.
"We won’t need much analysis to identify what swayed voters," Yousef Baig wrote for CalMatters. "The playbook for defeating the tax was simple: Stoke economic fears and confuse Californians."
Baig continued:
Prop 40’s authors may have even doomed their own campaign with an amendment provision that opponents seized on. If a supermajority—two-thirds of the Legislature—wanted to retool the tax, they could, so long as “the statute is consistent with and furthers the purposes of the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act.” Opponents created ads proclaiming politicians would use this clause to come after our retirement accounts.
It lit up social media. Some Californians are so cynical that they figured 7 out of 10 state lawmakers would vote to extend a billionaire tax to people with fewer zeros and commas invested. It also made one of Brin’s countermeasures, Proposition 42, an easy sell. It would bar taxes on personal property and its passage would make it almost impossible to enact a similar tax in the future. It was ahead in the count Wednesday morning.
"If there is a glimmer of hope, it is that Brin and other billionaires stepped into the sunshine," Baig said. "The record spending and attack ads and political gamesmanship was done out in the open. Many Californians took notice, whether they backed Prop 40 or not."
"The state’s billionaires may have avoided this wealth tax," he added, "but voters won’t forget how some of the richest people on the planet behaved when fairness was on the ballot."
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Scott Colom on Cusp of Historic Senate Upset in Deep-Red Mississippi, Fueled by Surge of Black Turnout
"Mississippi has never been a lost cause," said Colom, who could be the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction. "We've been a betrayed cause."
Nov 04, 2026
Scott Colom is on the verge of a historic upset in Mississippi, where he could become the state's first Democrat elected to the US Senate in more than four decades.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Decision Desk HQ showed Colom, a Black prosecutor and criminal justice reform advocate, holding a razor-thin margin of 1,864 votes over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith with more than 95% of ballots counted.
Even on a night when Democrats clobbered the GOP up and down the map and won decisively in states as red as Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, and Iowa, very few analysts believed Mississippi—where President Donald Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024—would be competitive, let alone a nail-biter that dragged into the next day.
But NBC election analyst Steve Kornacki explained Wednesday morning that with thousands of votes left to count in overwhelmingly Democratic Hinds County, “Colom could absolutely win this.”
In a 5-4 decision that now looms large, the US Supreme Court shot down Republican efforts to stop the counting of mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day that arrive afterward. Those ballots, which can continue arriving until November 10, may ultimately decide the election.
Even if Colom falls short, his strong showing was evidence of what the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, described as "historic voter turnout" in Black communities, in response to Republicans' attack on the Voting Rights Act.
Following the Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais decision earlier this year, several GOP-controlled states, including those in the Deep South, moved to redraw congressional and state legislative districts in ways that voting rights advocates warned would dilute Black voting power.
On the campaign trail, Colom described Callais as "a threat to our democracy" and said Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who proposed legislative maps that would have drawn Black lawmakers out of their districts, was seeking to stop Black voters from "being able to pick leaders they want."
When the court’s conservatives kneecapped the Voting Rights Act, they inspired a fierce backlash among Black voters across the South," explained reporter Jim Saksa in an analysis for Democracy Docket. "Massive Black turnout helped Democrats coast to victory in Georgia and made the Senate races in Mississippi and Louisiana the tightest seen in decades."
Voter turnout in Mississippi is on pace to be about 40% higher than in the last midterm election in 2022. In majority-Black Hinds County, which contains Jackson, unofficial results showed nearly 76,500 votes for the two leading US Senate candidates alone, about 44% more than the total number of ballots cast four years ago.
"The story of this election is not just about who won," said Dominik Whitehead, chief of field for the NAACP. "It's about the Black wave of voters who understood what was at stake and made their voices heard."
Democratic US Senate candidate Scott Colom of Mississippi stands outside the home of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi, in a video posted on November 1, 2026. (Screenshot from a video by Scott Colom)
Colom didn’t have to water down his platform much to achieve tremendous gains, even in a deep-red state. As political strategist Paul Hilder explained, he “ran on a ‘commonsense’ economic populist platform aimed at daily life: gas, groceries, healthcare, and closing hospitals, plus Medicaid expansion.”
In the nation’s poorest state, where nearly 1 in 5 residents rely on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, this message was potent. It was especially effective against Hyde-Smith, who has comfortably won her previous elections and was relentlessly criticized for dismissing voters’ concerns about high prices.
For example, in DeSoto County, which Trump carried by 24 points in 2024, Colom led Hyde-Smith by more than six points in early returns.
"[Colom] won many switchers, and the Republican vote collapsed," Hilder said. "Swing voters are more volatile than ever, especially when they’re economically hard-pressed. They respond to common sense, and they’ve decided Trump and the Republicans are not on their side."
Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since Sen. John C. Stennis, a conservative segregationist, won his seventh term in 1982. And although it has the highest proportion of Black residents of any US state, Mississippi has not sent a Black senator to Washington since Reconstruction, when Republican Blanche K. Bruce, who was born into slavery, was elected by the state Legislature.
Colom told NPR last week he’s always believed change was possible and that it has failed to materialize only because of neglect by national Democrats, who have long written the state off as unwinnable.
"The reality is, Mississippi has never been a lost cause," he said. "We've been a betrayed cause."
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