America First Energy | June 2026
When your Executive Director shows up on a San Francisco-based climate podcast wearing a red "Make Solar Great Again" hat — figuratively, at least — people pay attention. That was the point.
Last month, America First Energy Executive Director Skyler Zunk joined Climate One for an episode titled, fittingly, "Making Solar Great Again." The hour-long conversation, which also featured Politico congressional policy reporter Kelsey Brugger, tackled a question the energy world can no longer ignore: why are conservatives increasingly leading the charge on American solar?
The short answer: because it's ours to lead
The premise of the episode was simple. More and more conservative voices are making the case that the United States cannot achieve energy dominance without solar power — and even the industry's leading trade groups are rethinking their political strategy accordingly. Politico reported earlier this year that the American Clean Power Association launched an influencer campaign, engaging figures like Kellyanne Conway to make the case for solar to conservative audiences.
We welcome the company. But as Skyler made clear on the show, America First Energy didn't arrive at this position through a memo or a messaging pivot. We arrived here through first principles that conservatives have held all along:
Property rights. A farmer's land is his own. If a landowner in Southside Virginia or rural Louisiana wants to lease acreage for solar generation, that's a decision between him, his family, and a willing counterparty — not a decision for activists or heavy-handed regulators on either side of the aisle.
Energy dominance. America's electricity demand is climbing faster than it has in a generation. Data centers, reshored manufacturing, and a growing economy all need power — and they need it now. Solar is the fastest, cheapest new generation we can put on the grid. An all-of-the-above energy strategy that arbitrarily excludes the fastest-growing source isn't a strategy at all.
Markets, not mandates. Solar doesn't win because Washington says so. It wins in competitive markets, in interconnection queues, and in county-by-county decisions where the economics speak for themselves. Our job is to make sure those conversations are grounded in facts, not fear.
Why the hats?
Skyler also shared the story behind the "Make Solar Great Again" hats that have become something of a calling card for this movement. The message is intentionally provocative — and intentionally familiar. Clean energy advocacy has spent decades speaking a language that half the country tuned out. If we want solar built in red counties, approved by red local leaders, and valued by red legislators, it has to be argued in the vocabulary of the communities actually hosting these projects: jobs, tax revenue, land rights, and American strength.
That's also why, as Skyler discussed on the show, the conversation sounds different in Washington. In D.C., energy is an ideological football. In the counties where projects actually get sited, it's a practical question: What does this mean for my land, my tax bill, my schools, my community? The value of solar energy is valued locally and by folks benefiting--it's time that it is embraced by national leaders.
The bigger picture
What carries these conversations in conservative communities isn't climate messaging — it's property rights, economic development, re-shored manufacturing, and national security. Don't take our word for it. A national poll conducted earlier this year by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates — President Trump's own pollster — found that Republicans, GOP-leaning independents, and Trump voters favor utility-scale solar by a more than 20-point margin. When the panels are American-made with no ties to China, support jumps to 70%. And a full 79% agree that all forms of electricity generation, including utility-scale solar, should compete on their own merits without political interference. That's not a bug. It's evidence that solar has earned a constituency far broader than the one that first championed it.
Energy dominance isn't a partisan goal. But building the coalition to achieve it requires messengers who understand conservative communities because they come from them. That's the work America First Energy was built for.
Listen to the full episode on Climate One's website or Apple Podcasts.
America First Energy is a 501(c)(4) organization building conservative coalition support for solar and American energy dominance. To learn more or support our work, contact us.