Every year, extreme weather batters tens of millions of Americans, baking fast-growing cities in Arizona and Nevada in extreme heat and flooding communities in Florida and North Carolina. Even as they upend lives, these climate disasters are also upending the political process — floods destroy polling places, wildfires displace voters for months, and long recovery delays sour voters on local politicians and the federal government.

In communities around the country, from deep-red Louisiana to bright blue California, and in races from the city council to the U.S. Senate, climate disasters are exerting a little-noticed but transformative impact on political life.

Grist reporters and editors talked about the 2024 election cycle and the recent series, State of Emergency, on how extreme weather is impacting people’s ability to vote and their engagement with politics.