Extreme weather is driving up insurance rates, impacting races from California to the nation’s central Tornado Alley. In Florida, as Hurricane Isaias blasted through the panhandle, the candidates for governor jousted over who could best tame the highest home insurance rates in the country. In North Carolina, where flooding and skyrocketing construction costs have lifted premiums, voters are weighing a constitutional amendment to cap property taxes. And in Kansas, where hail storms and intense winds have pushed the cost of insuring a house into the top five nationwide, a usually sleepy race for insurance commissioner is surprisingly fierce.
In the angry debate over soaring costs of living this campaign season, the price of keeping a roof overhead — specifically insurance and property taxes — has joined gas, diesel, and groceries as a top voter concern three weeks before the midterm elections. Rising homeowners rates — driven by the fires, hurricanes and tornadoes worsened by climate change — have helped put reliably Republican states like Kansas and Florida onto the battlefield, pushed North Carolina toward the Democrats and roiled Democratic politics in California.
Home-insurance premiums have climbed 46 percent since 2021, nearly triple the rate of inflation. One recent survey found that 58 percent of Americans said rising insurance costs would make them more likely to vote. In another poll conducted in Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and North Carolina, respondents overwhelmingly wanted elected officials to do more to reduce premiums and hold companies more accountable. Nearly one-third of North Carolinians and more than a quarter of Kansans said they had postponed major purchases or life decisions because of insurance spikes.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing