California Democrats have made a series of moves to blunt or roll back environmental laws. What's behind the shift?

Five candidates vying for seats on the Burien City Council participated in a June 24 forum hosted by Burien People for Climate Action (Burien PCA), where they shared their views on local climate policy and environmental stewardship.

Stung by the party’s sweeping losses in November and desperate to win back working-class voters, the Democratic Party is in retreat on climate change. Nowhere is that retrenchment more jarring than in the nation’s most populous state, a longtime bastion of progressive politics on the environment.

Heat and other climate impacts like floods and storms affect voters, candidates and poll workers in different ways at different times, and can even tip election results, researchers and officials report.