Sen. Bernie Sanders says air quality will worsen until 'status quo' changes

Craig Mauger, The Detroit News on Jul 16, 2026

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LANSING, Mich. — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a prominent figure in national Democratic politics, said in an interview Thursday that the wildfire smoke blanketing Michigan and other places in the United States was a "manifestation" of climate change, which he labeled a crisis.

Sanders, an independent and self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, will make campaign stops in Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids this weekend on behalf of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor.

Ahead of the visit, Sanders told The Detroit News the question facing Michigan voters was whether to maintain political "status quo."

"People have a hard time breathing around Detroit (and) all over the country," Sanders said, after referencing climate change. "You want to continue the status quo? Good. Then, in two years, it will get worse.

"Maybe it's time to understand the status quo is not working for working families or the middle class. It is working for the fossil fuel industry, for the oil companies. It is working for the insurance companies. It is working for the billionaires."

Sanders made the comments as wildfire smoke from Ontario and northern Minnesota cloaked Michigan on Thursday. Health officials in Wayne County and elsewhere in the state encouraged residents to stay indoors with air conditioning and to keep windows closed.

The combination of heat and wildfire smoke can place additional stress on the body, a notice from Wayne County government said.

"This is exactly what climate scientists have predicted for decades," Sanders told The News. "The planet is getting warmer. There's been a terrible heat wave in Europe. Thousands of people have died. There is a heat wave in the United States, causing drought, causing forest fires.

"What you're seeing now is the manifestation of that."

Republicans pan Canadian forest fire management

Meanwhile, Sanders said, Republican President Donald Trump believes climate change is a "hoax" and cut funding for renewable energy initiatives.

On Wednesday, four Republican members of Michigan's U.S. House delegation tied the wildfire smoke to inaction by Canadian leaders.

"If Canada will not manage its forests to prevent these fires, the United States will look elsewhere and act on our own, to protect our people," wrote U.S. Reps. Jack Bergman of Watersmeet, John James of Shelby Township, Lisa McClain of Bruce Township and John Moolenaar of Caledonia in a letter to Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney.

"That means our own agencies exploring direct involvement in cross-border fuel reduction and firefighting capacity," the GOP legislators added. "It means reconsidering how much benefit of the doubt this relationship continues to earn on an issue where American lungs are paying the price for Canadian inaction, year after year."

However, Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist and University of Michigan climate and energy professor, previously said smoke derives from wildfires and wildfires are becoming bigger because of forests and grasslands drying out.

"One of the reasons they're drying out more — we have a lot of confidence in this — is because it's getting hotter," Overpeck said.

El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health official, is running against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham for the Democratic Party's U.S. Senate nomination in the Aug. 4 primary.

In her own statement Thursday, Stevens also tied the smoke in Michigan to climate change.

"We must continue investing in clean energy, climate resilience and the resources our communities need to protect public health and prepare for more frequent extreme weather events," Stevens said.

On Wednesday night, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who will be the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Michigan, said Canada had made "its wildfire smoke Michiganders' problem."

"The implications are real — and hazardous for you and your family — yet zero accountability for the country that constantly pushes crippling environmental regulations," said Rogers of White Lake Township. "Canada has to get its act together — and as your senator, I’ll make sure of it."

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Staff Writer Carol Thompson contributed.

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