Young Leftist Candidates Are Breathing New Radicalism Into Stale Climate Politics

On the same day that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won an upset victory in her primary against Wall Street-friendly incumbent Joe Crowley -- one of the most powerful Democrats in the House -- a New Yorker nearly 50 years her senior fed rumors that he would seek the highest office in the land.

Aside from pouring $80 million to support a set of handpicked Democratic congressional hopefuls, billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg once again seems to be angling to run for president. Business Insider columnist Daniella Greenbaum took the opportunity to assert: "Democrats need to choose: Are they the party of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or the party of Michael Bloomberg?"

She sided with the latter, but the question is a valid one. The differences between Bloomberg and Ocasio-Cortez are difficult to stuff into a single paragraph, but let's try: He's one of the richest men in the world who made his fortune on Wall Street and, in his tenure as mayor, went out of his way to make the financial sector feel at home. She's a democratic socialist who until last year bartended in Manhattan and campaigned to make housing a human right -- something Bloomberg made a more difficult goal to attain for her future constituents.

But one key difference might be less obvious and a bellwether for climate politics post-2018 if a blue wave sweeps Democrats back into power on Capitol Hill: how they plan to tackle climate change.

Read the full article at The Intercept.