North Carolina’s primary voters apparently did vote with our environment in mind. They delivered a clean sweep of wins for state legislative candidates endorsed by our Conservation PAC and federal candidates endorsed by the national League of Conservation Voters Action Fund.

That meant going 8 for 9 in the two state Senate and seven state House races endorsed. The winners were:

NC Senate

• Graig Meyer, District 23 (Caswell, Orange, Person)
• Julie Mayfield, District 49 (Buncombe)

NC House

• Rosa Gill, District 33 (Wake)
• Joe John, District 40 (Wake)
• Pricey Harrison, District 61 (Guilford)
• Sarah Crawford, District 66 (Wake)
• John Autry, District 100 (Mecklenburg)
• Kelly Alexander, District 107 (Mecklenburg)

All of these candidates are incumbents we have previously endorsed and gave our nod again because of their strong records on our annual scorecard. Meyer, currently a member of the House, and Crawford, currently a senator, are switching chambers, however. Meyer won the primary and will likely win the general election for the Senate seat Valerie Foushee is vacating to run for David Price’s congressional seat. Crawford is running in a newly drawn House seat and will be favored in November as well.

On the national stage, all four of the LCV-endorsed candidates won their nominations. They are:

• Cheri Beasley, U.S. Senate
• Valerie Foushee, U.S. House District 4
• Kathy Manning, U.S. House District 6
• Jeff Jackson, U.S. House District 14

Jackson, who dropped out of the U.S. Senate race earlier this year, won his primary for the newly created 14th District, and will be heavily favored in November. Manning is a strong bet to win her second term. Beasley will face Congressman Ted Budd in the general, a race expected to go down to the wire and draw heavy spending.

Of the federal races, only the 4th District turned out to be a competitive primary with more than one strong candidate. “We are thrilled to see Valerie Foushee win her primary in the 4th district and look forward to November,” said our Director of Governmental Relations Dan Crawford. “She is a strong advocate for growing our clean energy economy to protect our communities and build a more sustainable future for all and we can’t wait to work with her once she’s elected to Congress.”Conservation PAC will endorse more candidates for the general election soon. Stay tuned to CIB for those and any further LCV Action Fund picks.