2023 Election Good News: Voters deliver big wins for climate action and clean energy across the country
Last week, we reported on the story of Virginia voters delivering huge wins for climate action and clean energy by electing a conservation majority to their state legislature. This week, we take a broader look at 2023 good election news and big wins for the environment and climate in elections across the nation and our state.
The national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) released a statement celebrating its analysis that climate action and the environment won big in results nationwide. “One week after election day, full results show that voters across the country showed up for environmental candidates and rejected big oil’s cynical attacks. Together, the League of Conservation Voters and our state affiliates invested $7 million into the most important state and local races that were critical to building a clean energy future. Our state league partners invested in over 220 races around the country and 72% of the candidates they supported won. This includes investments in everything from city council races, to securing pro-environment majorities in the legislatures in Virginia and New Jersey.”
LCV cited results from New Jersey’s state legislative races, where clean energy majorities won despite massive opposition spending on ads attacking offshore wind energy development. It also cited wins in a key state Supreme Court election in Pennsylvania, and big local office wins in cities from Boise, Idaho, to Tucson, Arizona. Details of the contests reviewed can be read in the LCV release.
Environmental elections in North Carolina
As we reported earlier, North Carolina’s elections this month were exclusively in municipal voting. Those contests can be extremely important for local environmental issues, and there were some environmental group endorsements for voters to consider.
Overall, there were no reported comprehensive analyses of the environmental implications of our state’s municipal contests. However, one environmental group’s results suggest that climate and environmental issues played well among North Carolina’s electorate this month.
We take that as further encouragement for environmental advocates to work hard in the critical 2024 election contests in North Carolina next year. Donate monthly to elect environmental leaders in 2024.
