Across the country, voters turned out to elect state and local leaders who will make enormous decisions to protect our environment and democracy. Our state affiliates invested all year to make sure environmental champions won these races. From high profile governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia to the Billings Montana City Council, state affiliates won major victories to help make progress in every corner of the country.

These were the top priority races this cycle:

New Jersey Governor’s Race

New Jersey LCV Victory Fund invested over $1.7 million to elect Mikie Sherrill as the next governor over Jack Ciattarelli for this open seat gubernatorial race. New Jersey LCV Victory Fund was one of the top spenders this cycle in the gubernatorial race. In addition, GiveGreen donations to Mikie Sherrill totaled over $715,000.

This included an over $1.5 million digital program investment, which ultimately achieved more than 69 million impressions and views across a slew of platforms including YouTube and social media. This program also included over $180,000 of direct mail investment, which included two mail flights to a Latino voter universe totaling over 220,000 pieces sent. They also commissioned a study of Jack Ciattarelli’s energy plan and the costs associated with it for New Jerseyans.

Virginia Governor’s Race

Our state affiliate in Virginia VALCV-PAC, the largest outside spender in the race for Virginia governor, invested over $1.6 million in a massive turnout canvass program knocking on over 210,000 doors to talk with voters about the issues that matter to them including energy costs and making sure they knew the stakes of this election.

Energy affordability is increasingly top of mind with voters across the country and Virginia is no exception. Virginia leads the nation in data centers and residents are already seeing their utility rates increase over 11.25% this year alone. Rising energy costs were front and center throughout this year’s election at every level of the ballot.

Georgia Public Service Commission

Public Service Commissions (PSC) regulate utility companies, electricity prices, and which energy sources are built to power the grid. In the Peach State this year, they held statewide races for two seats on the state’s PSC. After the current commission passed numerous utility rate hikes for residents in just the past few years, energy affordability was the key factor in each race.

GCV Action Fund spent over $2.2 million, their largest investment ever, to help elect challengers Peter Hubbard and Dr. Alicia Johnson over incumbents Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols respectively.

This spend included digital, direct mail, billboards and text investments. The digital program included three ad spots ($500, Wallet, No Accident) and a total of over $620,000 investment across platforms, achieving over 29 million total impressions. The texting program included a total of more than $62,000 investment, sending a total over 490,000 texts. Direct mail included an over $1.2 million investment, sending three flights of more than 2.4 million total pieces of mail. Out-of-home included over $296,000 investment, featuring 92 billboards across targeted zip codes in the state. In addition, GiveGreen donations this cycle totaled for this race were over $91,000.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

CVPA Victory Fund supported the supreme court “yes” campaign to successfully retain Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht in office. They invested $143,000 in a joint mail and digital program with Voters for Earthjustice Action Pennsylvania and site based canvassing in Lehigh and Bucks Counties. This spend included direct mail to over 80,0000 voters, digital ads, phone banking, texting, and site-based canvassing to ensure environmental voters are aware of the stakes for the courts, complete their ballots, and vote ‘Yes’ to retain the justices.

Our state affiliates’ top priority state legislative races this cycle to expand, protect, pick-up or defend were:

Boston Mayor

ELMAFIE led the Independent Expenditure table that supported Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s reelection. ELMAFIE invested over $400,000 in digital and mail programming to help reelect Mayor Wu, who has become one of the strongest voices on climate action in the nation. This campaign was extremely successful and helped propel Wu to a nearly 50 point victory over Josh Kraft in the primary, despite being significantly outspent by the billionaire. Kraft ultimately decided to drop out of the race and as a result Wu was unopposed on Tuesday.

Cincinnati and Cleveland

Conservation Ohio supported 10 climate champion candidates in Cincinnati and 5 climate champion candidates in Cleveland. They spent over $140,000 investing in direct mail to voters and digital ads highlighting the incredible work of incumbents like Mayors Aftab Pureval and Justin Bibb, along with the promise of new and returning City Council candidates who support protecting the environment and lowering costs for residents. Conservation Ohio was proud to help elect candidates who will advocate for sustainability and environmental progress in their cities, and look forward to these elected leaders fighting for clean air, safe water, and public lands across Ohio.

Montana local elections

Montana Conservation Voters Action Fund invested over $70,000 to support pro-environment candidates in local elections across the state.

• Billings City Council: MCV Action Fund supported candidates Mark Nicholson, Amy Aguirre, and Andrew Lindley for Billings City Council, investing in three flights of direct mail to support their races.
• Billings Mayoral: MCV Action Fund also supported Mike Nelson for Billing’s open seat mayoral race. This investment included both direct mail and a digital program to reach voters citywide.
• Bozeman City Commission: They also supported incumbent Emma Bode’s reelection race for Bozeman City Commission, investing in direct mail to support her race.
• Kalispell Mayoral: MCV Action Fund supported Ryan Hunter for Kalispell’s open seat mayoral race. The spend included one flight of direct mail to support his race.
• Kalispell City Council: They also supported Kyle Waterman for Kalispell City Council, investing in direct mail to voters in support of his race. 

Utah local elections

Stewardship Utah and their affiliated entities supported a slew of local candidates to advance clean energy, investing across several localities. They propelled local candidates to victory across Helper, Midvale, Sandy, Salt Lake City, Holladay, West Valley City, West Jordan and Ogden. Their support was via both direct-to-candidate donations and IE support, including direct mail, canvassing and paid phone calls.

Washington local elections

Washington Conservation Action Votes invested over $25,000 to help elect pro-environment and pro-climate candidates across the state:

• Spokane City Council: In Spokane, Washington Conservation Action Votes invested $6,000 to support Kate Telis and Zac Zappone for Spokane City Council with other seats still too close to call.
• Whatcom County City Council: In Whatcom, Washington Conservation Action Votes invested $7,000 to help elect Jessica Reinstra to an open seat on the Whatcom County Council.

Boise Clean Water & Open Space

Conservation Voters for Idaho led the successful Yes for Clean Water and Open Space campaign to pass an $11-million levy to keep the Boise River clean, connect more Boiseans to be within a 10-minute walk of a park, and mitigate wildfire risk to the city. CVI raised and invested a total of $188,000 leading this campaign. This spend included a $49,000 mail program with three direct mail pieces sent to nearly 24,000 homes and a $45,000 digital program targeted to social media and TV streaming. In addition, they led a field program that canvassed over 10,000 doors and a $1,000 text campaign that reached 13,000 voters. As a part of this effort they built a coalition of 13 local organizations and 9 elected officials to ensure this campaign reached voters through additional networks.

California Prop 50

LCV contributed $500,000 to support the victory of Yes on 50, The Election Rigging Response Act, Governor Newsom’s Ballot Measure Committee to support California’s Proposition 50 in response to Republican gerrymandering.

Maine Referendum 1

Maine Conservation Voters (MCV), alongside its democracy partners, spearheaded the campaign to oppose a ballot measure to enact extremely strict voter ID laws and restrict absentee voting.  Historically, ballot initiatives to implement strict voter ID requirements have been difficult to defeat. But MCV and its allies strategically shifted the campaign’s focus to the negative impact on absentee voting. This approach united a diverse coalition of groups, including older Mainers, voters with disabilities, shift and hourly workers, and college students, all of whom would have been disadvantaged by the proposed measure. Through a comprehensive effort that included newspaper LTEs, canvassing, phone banks, house parties, and active participation in community events throughout the summer and fall, the campaign successfully reframed the narrative. As a result, Mainers overwhelmingly voted to reject limits on absentee voting and the harmful voter ID requirements.