The 2026 midterm elections gave Democrats in Pennsylvania a rare “trifecta” in state government. For the first time in over 30 years, they control the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the state legislature.
What will Democrats in the state do on climate change with their newfound power? To talk about this, the Allegheny Front’s Reid Frazier spoke with Erin Kramer, the Pennsylvania state lead for Climate Cabinet, a nonprofit and political action committee that works to elect climate-friendly politicians around the country.
LISTEN to the interview
Reid Frazier: What does your group do and how involved was it in Pennsylvania’s latest elections?
Erin Kramer: Climate Cabinet aims to run, win and legislate on climate solutions at the state legislative level and down. In the last round of elections, we made significant early investment in five [Pennsylvania] Senate races and also identified some state House races where either there were candidates that we’d worked with in the past who were amazing legislators and were running for reelection or folks that we were really excited about possibly flipping seats.
Reid Frazier: How did election night go for your group? What are your overall reactions to the election?
Erin Kramer: We were thrilled. Quality candidates were recruited in a lot of these races. We saw unlikely victories in really deeply uncontested geography. They just announced the Mississippi Senate race [for Democrat Scott Colom]. On the state legislative level, we saw chambers flip all across the country, including here in Pennsylvania, with a really strong 2026.
Climate Cabinet is at a 91% win rate. Here in Pennsylvania, there’s a similar picture. We endorsed in 17 races, won in 14, and two are still being counted.
For the latest Pa. election results, go to Spotlight PA
Reid Frazier: Were there any races in Pennsylvania that surprised you that you did win?
Erin Kramer: We’re really excited about Brad Chambers in the center of the state. That’s one race where they’re still counting (as of Nov. 13). He’s a young guy, and he’s very active in the district, sort of a non-traditional state rep, in terms of his profile, but it’s exciting to have people like that stepping up and taking leadership in Harrisburg.
Reid Frazier: What powers do states have to actually act on climate change, especially when the federal government is actively working against climate-friendly policies, as the Trump administration currently is?
Erin Kramer: States are really where the action is in terms of emissions. Obviously, it’s not great [for climate action] what’s going on with the federal government. There are lots of groups that are thinking about that.
We’re occupying the lane of state houses to make sure that when federal money comes to our states, we’re using it to support the most sustainable programs possible. When the states can step into a gap – and sometimes those gaps are growing, given what’s happening in DC right now – making sure that we’re doing that with an eye towards the future.
Transit budgets are a huge example of where states have so much power and authority. We’re so excited to see that Governor Shapiro stepped out on Wednesday and said that funding transit is one of his top issues.
With Pennsylvania trifecta, how will Democrats lead on energy and environment?
Reid Frazier: What are some of the policies that you would like to see put in place in Pennsylvania over the next couple of years? And are there any big swings that the Democrats could take on climate?
Erin Kramer: The unfinished business from this current legislative session is a great [way] to start the next legislative session. Anybody who’s paying attention to [Philadelphia County] Representative [Elizabeth] Fiedler’s energy committee, I would say just line those bills up and let’s run them again, get them through the Senate, get them to the governor’s desk.
That looks like things, just to give some practical examples, [like] strong guardrails for data centers. We saw a bill from Representative (Rob) Matzie [of Beaver County] actually pass through the House and then sit and die in the Senate.
I think it’s a big reason that people showed up and voted differently in this election. They want a legislature that legislates. So: strong guard rails for data centers, the Renewable energy standard that was introduced two years ago – easy, let’s do it. Let’s go couple that with codifying the GRID executive order, the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development executive order…and [then] I think we’ve got maybe the strongest data center guardrails already on the books. So all we have to do is reintroduce it, pass it through the chambers, then on the governor’s desk, sign it.
Reid Frazier: What are some areas where you want to see Democrats really stretch on climate? Are you looking at maybe aggressive renewable energy standards up from what we currently have in the state, which were last set in 2004?
Erin Kramer: Yeah, so we can do better. We could do better, on accident. I think right now solar is 2% of our supply. You really have to be trying to have it be that low. So there’s some real low-hanging fruit here: community solar, solar for warehouses, which models after the solar in schools [program].
Can we incentivize municipalities to do canopy solar over parking lots? There’s so much opportunity just to bring the existing technologies online. And we’ve seen that bill pass the House. The other, I would say, is that there’s a lot of things that Pennsylvania can do to sort of influence and nudge and move PJM.
With a trifecta, Pennsylvania Democrats would pass energy reforms and rein in data centers
Reid Frazier: The regional electricity grid.
Erin Kramer: Yes–jargon alert. PJM, which controls the grid for 13 states [and the District of Columbia], is privately held, but headquartered in Valley Forge. And Pennsylvania is the ‘P’ of PJM. We have no authority [over PJM], really. But the governors of those states have come together to try and push [for greater control]. What can the legislature do? Can they require advanced transmission technologies? Can they explore virtual power plants?
Reid Frazier: Virtual power plants are doing things like sending power back to the grid from your EV car battery at times of high electricity demand?
Erin Kramer: It’s sort of like toggling electric use at high-load times in a way that allows people to opt in to get a lower utility bill. So it’s an opt-in strategy so that folks are active participants and consumers in their utility, as opposed to just getting a bill and being confused about why that bill is [so high].
Reid Frazier: Are there any other topics that you want to mention about this election and its ramifications that you think are important to mention?
Erin Kramer: I just think, because I’ve been wrestling with this question myself, is there a new thing that we should be doing? And I’ve got to say, all the ideas are there. There’s not some secret, magical thing that we haven’t talked about that we could do now.
The question is scale, speed, and, frankly, are we setting ourselves up for the next investment? For how long have we been just plugging a hole in the transit budget? Now we have the opportunity to actually transcend that level of investment and get to a place where we’re talking about expanding access to transit.
What would it look like if you could actually take a train from Harrisburg to New York, stopping in Allentown and Redding? We can’t get there with the transit we have now, but if we make a real investment, we can start imagining what’s possible.
Erin Kramer is the Pennsylvania state lead for Climate Cabinet, a nonprofit political action committee that works to elect climate-friendly politicians across the country.
