Midwest voters in Trump country face historic floods and call for climate action – “People are being smacked with climate change at a phenomenal rate”

By Hans Nichols and Stefanie Cargill
19 March 2019

La CROSSE, Wisconsin – In two states that flipped from Democratic to Republican in the 2016 presidential race, the devastating floods are focusing voter’s attention on climate change — and both parties’ response to it.

“My big concern is the environment,” said Amy Bouska, a retired actuary, at a town hall event for Rep. Amy Finkenauer, a freshman Democrat from eastern Iowa. “People know that the Canadians are clearing land to plant corn.”

“Whether they’re attributing it to climate change is another question, but people know things are changing,” added Bouska, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

As midwestern states grapple with historic flooding that is devastating communities and threatening crop rotations and livestock, some voters are demanding action on what they see as the cause: climate change and more extreme weather patterns.

This year, as Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin begin their annual thaw, a flash of warm weather, combined with unusually high snowmelt, is making it difficult for the land to dispose of the winter’s water. And that’s causing pain in parts of the country that delivered the presidency to Donald Trump.

Cut rows of corn stand in a March mix of slush and mud, with water pooling just about anywhere that’s flat. Rivers and streams have crested and may rise yet again.

Farm groups say that it’s worse than in the past. […]

Mark Neumann, a retired pediatrician, said that Rep. Ron Kind’s positions on climate change and his opposition to a single-payer health care system may lead him to challenge Kind next year in the Democratic primary.

“People are being smacked with climate change at a phenomenal rate,” Neumann said. “These are issues that go beyond our binary partisan divide.” [more]

Midwest voters in Trump country face historic floods and call for climate action