By Kindler
It’s not enough for Democrats to win the White House – we need a Congress that will serve as a partner, not an implacable barrier, to a (hopefully) Harris-Walz administration. So I encourage you all to focus on giving our Congressional candidates a hand too. We are so close to winning the House but have to sweep a number of close races to get over that finish lane and make the awesome Hakeem Jeffries Speaker. And…the more we win, the better.
As the environment, specifically climate and clean energy, are the issues closest to my heart, I’m going to devote this piece to my top five climate champs among the tossup House races whom I humbly suggest deserve your support and attention. There are more I could list, of course, but I wanted to narrow this blog to a bite-sized number. Starting with…
Kirsten Engel (AZ-06)
You can’t do much better than replacing a climate denier with the Co-Director of the University of Arizona Environmental Law program. Professor Kirsten Engel has worked for the Massachusetts Office of Attorney General and EPA and as noted on her website:
“She filed an amicus brief in the very first case in which the U.S. Supreme Court recognized greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change. She helped force paint manufacturers to include warning labels about the hazards of exposure to lead-paint dust. And, she oversaw a brownfield renovation program to cleanup and restore contaminated waste sites.”
Engel states on her website: “I will fight for Arizona to continue becoming a clean energy leader – providing good-paying jobs and lower utility bills for Arizonans, and tangible progress in reducing the climate crisis.”
The incumbent Republican she seeks to replace, Juan Ciscomani, meanwhile:
“has links to the Patriot Academy, a far-right group also known as The Torch of Freedom, which opposes the separation of church and state, seeks to rewrite the Constitution to turn the U.S. into a “Christian nation” and denies climate change. “I can wholeheartedly say that nothing in my life has given me a clearer direction for my life than Patriot Academy,” the congressman wrote in an article on the Patriot Academy’s website”
Kirsten Engel has served in both the Arizona House and Senate and came close to beating Ciscomani two years ago with 49.2% of the vote. This is a district that Biden won in 2020 and hence is a prime pickup target. Being in the critical swing state of Arizona, support for her race could help up-ballot to elect both Kamala Harris and Senate candidate Ruben Gallego.
For more info, see Engel’s interview with Simon Rosenberg and her own website.
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Christina Bohannon (IA-01)
Nor is Engel the only swing district candidate with a background in the environmental field. Iowa’s Christina Bohannon, per Give Green, “has a degree in environmental engineering from the University of Florida and began her career as an environmental engineer working to protect clean water at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.”
Now also a law professor, she rose from humble beginnings, per her website, as a girl who grew up “in a trailer in a rural small town. Her parents never finished high school, and her mom worked at a daycare center while her dad struggled to make ends meet as a construction worker.”
As she states on the Priorities page of her website:
“Iowa is…well-positioned to grow its economy and create more good jobs in renewable energy. In fact, Iowa is already a leader in this area — we get more of our electricity from renewable energy than most other states. With strategic investment, Iowa has huge potential for economic growth in this sector….We…must take on Big Oil, corporations that want to dominate the US energy market, ignore climate change, and prevent the growth of Iowa’s renewable energy economy.”
She contrasts her position with that of her opponent, GOP incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who “has taken more than $160,000 from the oil and gas industry, and…voted against providing resources to protect farmers from the effects of climate change; against holding big oil companies accountable for price gouging and unfair practices; and against investing in renewable energy to create good jobs and make the United States more energy independent.”
Per Ballotpedia, Iowa’s 1st Congressional District is rated a slim +3 Republican by the Cook Political Report; Bohannon lost her 2022 race in this district (before redistricting) by 7 points and Trump won it in 2020 by 3 points. But with voter outrage over the Republican war on women’s health plus overall disgust with MAGAism, this is a winnable seat.
See her website and her interview with Simon Rosenberg for more about Christine Bohannon.
Tony Vargas (NE-02)
Nebraska is getting extra attention this year – specifically, the “Blue Dot”, i.e., the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which offers a potentially pivotal Electoral vote from one of the only two states that allocate Electoral votes by district. Specifically, if Kamala Harris wins Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan plus the Blue Dot, all else being equal, she will have the minimum Electoral votes (270) needed to prevail.
For that reason alone, it’s important to focus on this district, but it also happens to feature one of the pivotal swing seat races that will determine which party controls the U.S. House. Tony Vargas, the Democrat fighting to replace incumbent Republican Don Bacon, is a highly experienced and likeable candidate, with a record of over a decade in public service, including serving on the Omaha Public Schools Board and as a member of the state legislature. Before that, he spent years as a public school teacher.
According to Give Green,
“Vargas supported every piece of legislation before the state legislature that addresses and would aggressively combat climate change. He’s introduced legislation that would increase penalties for environmental disasters from fracking and drilling…and has been a strong advocate for addressing…environmental racism…Vargas has also introduced legislation to incentivize energy efficiency and to use the funds the state received from the settlement with Volkswagen to invest in clean school buses and electric vehicles.”
Vargas makes his position clear on his own webpage:
“Climate change is a serious threat to our children, businesses, and environment, and the need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is both an environmental and economic necessity. We can fight climate change while helping businesses create new, sustainable energy and manufacturing jobs in Nebraska. The clean energy industry is already growing across Nebraska, with an almost unlimited potential to create good-paying careers into the future.”
This race is rated as either “Tossup” or “Lean Democratic”, depending upon whom you ask. It is, in short, a great opportunity to flip a seat to the Democrats and those who give a damn about the environment. See his website and interview with Simon Rosenberg.
Josh Riley (NY-19)
Make sure to check out the video clips of Josh Riley, a superb candidate who radiates authenticity grounded in his working-class upbringing. He also brings to his campaign a public service career starting in the Department of Labor and continuing into public interest law and service as general counsel to U.S. Senator Al Franken on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He has worked on a broad range of progressive causes from voting rights to protecting the victims of domestic violence, but includes environmental advancement among his priorities. Per GiveGreen, Riley “is a strong supporter of transitioning New York’s economy to a 100% clean energy economy, and will work to establish energy independence by ending our reliance on fossil fuels if elected to Congress. He is also running for Congress to protect New York’s public treasures, ensure New York’s communities have access to 100% clean water, create jobs and hold polluters accountable.”
His opponent, one-term Republican Representative Marc Molinaro, by contrast, has voted to repeal federal clean energy funding while supporting measures to relax fossil fuel industry regulation.
Riley ran for this seat two years ago and lost by a mere 4,500 votes, or 1.6% — one of several New York Congressional seats unnecessarily lost when the state party took its eye off the ball. Indeed, the Cook Political Report rates this district as a mere R+1 – eminently winnable!
See Josh Riley’s website and Simon Rosenberg’s interview of him for more info.
Sue Altman (NJ-07)
The final candidate I’m promoting today is one who wowed me in her interview with Simon Rosenberg – just a bundle of pure energy and charisma. Sue Altman is a former basketball star who became a teacher and then Executive Director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, a progressive group that fights corruption in state politics.
She makes her environmental priorities clear on her website:
“Environmental change is an existential threat to our communities and wildlife. From farmers grappling with changing weather patterns to our towns experiencing costly and life-threatening flooding, it’s clear that we need bold action. Sue will address our environmental crises at multiple levels, as well as work with our communities to ensure they have the resources they need to address immediate threats to our towns. Sue also knows that our district includes some of the last remaining beautiful open space in New Jersey, and she’ll work in Congress to protect our rural communities and natural environment from short-sighted, environmentally unsustainable overdevelopment and warehouse sprawl.”
She is endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters and NRDC Action Funds. NJ-07 is a classic swing district where GOP incumbent Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. won the seat by less than 3 points in 2022, but which Biden won in 2020 by nearly 4 points. And Altman, the challenger, has kept pace with the fundraising of the incumbent.
So there you have it, a literal handful of races that could decide which party leads the House, with 5 candidates who have made it abundantly clear that they will prioritize and lead on the environment and clean energy. Please check them out and help them wherever and however you can. It will be a much better use of your time than obsessing over polls, wallowing in rage or fear or giving Trump even a moment more of the attention that he craves. In the last days and hours of this campaign, we must prevail.
(Please check out my Substack and subscribe for free)
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