While politicians are increasingly willing to include environmental messages in their campaigns, many at the national level still steer clear of the politically charged topic of climate change. But in communities across the country where the effects are lapping at the doorsteps of residents, pragmatism often trumps politics, and candidates as well as elected officials across the political spectrum are embracing the issue.

Some local Republican officials in Florida and elsewhere say they can no longer follow the lead of state and national party leaders like Senator Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott, who have publicly questioned whether human activity has had an effect on climate change. (Though both have recently taken a more vague “I’m not a scientist” stance.) The Center for American Progress Action Fund, a left-leaning advocacy group in Washington, tracks the statements of American political figures on climate change and reports that more than 58 percent of Republicans in Congress have denied a link between human activity and global warming.

But in the Florida Keys, George Neugent, a Republican county commissioner, said that while people might disagree about what to do about climate change, the effects of flooding and hurricanes were less ambiguous. “Clearly rising tides are going to affect us,” he said.

That is leading to discussions about a broad range of possible responses, including elevating roads and switching the Bermuda grass at the local golf course to paspalum, which tolerates salty water.

“I have to be very careful when I say some things, especially to the skeptics,” Mr. Neugent said, adding that he avoided arguments about the science of climate change. “It’s not worth the effort or the time to prove what clearly is a factual situation. We’re living with it.”