{"id":401163,"date":"2025-11-24T11:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401163\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T11:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:03:14","slug":"south-philly-native-biden-climate-advisor-running-for-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401163\/","title":{"rendered":"South Philly native, Biden climate advisor running for Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk<\/strong><\/a>, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.\n<\/p>\n

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch<\/strong><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

A South Philly native and former climate advisor for the Biden administration is running to replace Dwight Evans as the representative for Pennsylvania\u2019s 3rd Congressional District. The crowded field now includes 10 Democratic candidates who will face off in the primary on May 19.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Pablo Iv\u00e1n McConnie-Saad<\/a> said he\u2019s focused on the connection between affordability and climate change.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI think people don\u2019t necessarily make that connection,\u201d McConnie-Saad told WHYY News. \u201cBut, I think climate change is raising the cost of food, and obviously we\u2019re experiencing increasing energy costs, and that\u2019s also a result of climate change.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

McConnie-Saad pointed to the impact of high heat and floods on food production, which a recent study found is driving up prices<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The Bella Vista resident also said he\u2019s about to be a father.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just for myself, it\u2019s also for the next generation,\u201d McConnie-Saad said. \u201cWe have to focus on climate. It\u2019s an existential crisis.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

McConnie-Saad worked for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, helping to increase the use of available funds through the Inflation Reduction Act, former President Joe Biden\u2019s signature climate initiative that encouraged clean energy production and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through tax credits, rebates and incentives.\n<\/p>\n

Since taking control of the White House, President Donald Trump has worked to dismantle the initiative <\/a>and claw back much of the funding<\/a>. Still, McConnie-Saad said Pennsylvania gained $700 million in investments from the Inflation Reduction Act<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was working at the individual level,\u201d McConnie-Saad said. \u201cAt the household level, at the organizational level, so small businesses could benefit from it, and so could local governments and state governments. It was providing an opportunity for municipalities, nonprofit, tax-exempt, faith-based organizations to invest and make the transition to renewables, and that was gonna bring down the cost for everyone.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

While affordability is front and center for voters, climate change is not, said Democratic political consultant Neil Oxman.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Greenland melted tomorrow, climate would be the No. 1 issue,\u201d Oxman said. \u201cBut Greenland\u2019s not melting tomorrow. And so the number one issue is the economic strain that people have.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":401164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,285,114077,189927,1448,2830,189928,1311,89695,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,49740],"class_list":{"0":"post-401163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-elections-2026","11":"tag-every-voice-every-vote","12":"tag-pa","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-pennsylvania-elections","15":"tag-philadelphia","16":"tag-philadelphia-elections","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa","23":"tag-whyy-news-climate-desk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115604345075072353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}