Each month, LCV shares five stories about the impact of our work. This month, we’re focusing on how our state affiliates helped elect clean energy and climate champions in New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, and elsewhere in 2025 — and we preview who LCV Action Fund has endorsed for Congress in 2026.

Watch a video compilation of winning candidates in New Jersey, Virginia, and Georgia talking about their plans to advance affordable clean energy:

This Month’s Stories

1. New Jersey Governor’s Race

New Jersey LCV Victory Fund went all in for the state’s high-profile, open-seat gubernatorial race, investing more than ever before in a single election to help voters understand how their choice for governor would affect their utility bills.

Sherrill won by a margin of more than 13% — a decisive victory that shows that voters want leaders to address kitchen table issues and fight for lower costs, including utility bills.

Why It Matters

• In June, New Jersey ratepayers were hit with a 22% increase in utility bills from last year — the second-highest increase in the nation.
• Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill ran on an affordability agenda, including a clean energy plan to reduce costs, and she committed to declaring a statewide energy emergency and full rate freeze on her first day in office.
• In contrast, her opponent, MAGA Republican Jack Ciattarelli, ran on a plan that would result in New Jerseyans paying nearly $900 more per year on energy costs.

How We Won

New Jersey LCV Victory Fund ran a robust campaign to help elect Sherrill, including earned media, direct mail, and digital ads. In total, our affiliate spent over $1.7 million, becoming one of the top spenders in this race. Their efforts included:

• Running a digital program for four weeks in the home stretch of the race, focused on key platforms like YouTube, connected TV, and Meta. In total, this program garnered more than 69 million impressions.
• Defining Sherrill’s opponent with an ad, “Jacking Up Prices” (see below), which was tested and found to drive up Ciattarelli’s unfavorability while moving viewers to vote for Sherrill.
• Sending two rounds of bilingual mailers to 135,000 Latino voters who were identified through polling as a top persuadable audience for utility rate messaging.
• Commissioning a study of Ciattarelli’s energy plan and the costs associated with it for New Jerseyans.

Thanks in no small part to our state affiliate’s efforts, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill’s affordability agenda is set to become a model for states in the region and nationwide.

2. Virginia’s Pro-Environment Governor and State Legislature

Virginia LCV’s Political Action Committee (VALCV-PAC) played a major role this cycle, with a massive field, mail, and digital campaign to support candidates who back affordable clean energy — and helped Democrats win the governor’s race and significantly expand their majority in the House of Delegates.

Why It Matters

• Energy affordability is top of mind with voters across the country, and Virginia is no exception.
• Virginia leads the nation in electricity-hungry data centers, and residents have seen their utility rates increase by 11.25% this year alone. Rising energy costs were front and center at every level of the ballot, especially in the governor’s race.
• Former U.S. Representative and now Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger focused on affordability in her campaign. She addressed the need for data centers to pay their fair share and to build out clean energy projects stalled by Governor Youngkin and the Trump administration.
• Pro-clean energy candidates for the House of Delegates also championed energy affordability in their campaigns. The data center issue was prominent in several races in Northern Virginia, which is home to roughly one-third of the world’s data centers.

How We Won

VALCV-PAC engaged voters across the state, spending over $3 million on field, mail, digital, and direct contributions to elect Abigail Spanberger as governor, protect the pro-environment majority in the House of Delegates, and elect other pro-clean energy candidates. These efforts included:

• Conducting early polling and focus groups to create campaign messaging that would resonate with voters.
• Running a massive canvassing program that knocked on more than 210,000 doors to talk with Virginians about issues that matter to them and help them make plans to vote. (VALCV-PAC invested $1.6 million in its turnout program).
• Supporting House of Delegates candidates in nine districts, including via digital ads that garnered over 8.5 million impressions in four districts, and 660,000 pieces of GOTV mail in seven competitive House districts and statewide.
• Recruiting and training 350 volunteers through its GreenRoots program, who completed 700 shifts phonebanking and canvassing for endorsed House of Delegates candidates.
• Elevating the issue of data centers, especially in HD30, which includes Fauquier and Loudoun Counties, and where VALCV-PAC focused on the incumbent’s record of enabling data centers while doing nothing to control costs or hold the industry accountable. See video here:

Thanks to VALCV-PAC’s efforts, Virginia now has a pro-environment trifecta (governor and control of both chambers of the state legislature) that will work to secure a clean, affordable energy future and a safe, healthy environment for all Virginians. Democrats also secured the largest majority in the House of Delegates in more than three decades.

Dig Deeper: Read about Virginia LCV-PAC’s role in the 2025 elections. 

3. Georgia Public Service Commission

Georgia Conservation Voters Action Fund executed its largest electoral campaign ever to ensure that voters knew that their utility bills were on the ballot in 2025. Now, two new pro-affordability, pro-clean energy commissioners will be joining the Georgia Public Service Commission in 2026. This is a big win for Georgia residents, who had experienced numerous utility bill rate hikes approved by the now-defeated incumbents.

Why It Matters

• Public Service Commissions regulate utility companies, electricity prices, and which energy sources are built to power the grid. In most states, these positions are appointed.
• The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), which oversees the state’s largest utility company, consists of five commissioners who are elected statewide.
• All five seats have been occupied by Republicans who repeatedly voted to hike rates, raising bills by over $500 a year for the average family.
• This year, elections were finally held for two seats on the PSC — the first time Georgians had the chance to vote for commissioners since November 2020.
• In this race, which was widely seen as a bellwether for the midterms, the results were decisive: pro-affordability, pro-clean energy challengers Peter Hubbard and Dr. Alicia Johnson defeated their incumbent opponents by 25 percentage points.

How We Won

Georgia Conservation Voters Action Fund (GCV Action Fund) played an integral role in this race, spending more than $2.2 million — its largest single investment ever — to reach nearly 2 million voters about utility bills and affordability. These efforts included:

• Creating a series of powerful ads, such as “$500” (see video below), which collectively garnered over 29 million impressions.
• Investing in 92 billboards statewide in key zip codes.
• Publishing a campaign webpage (‘They Raised Your Bill’), where voters could see how much their bills have risen.
• Sending three rounds of direct mail to millions of Georgia voters who were identified as likely to vote for Hubbard and Johnson if they knew more about the race.
• Collaborating with allied groups to align strategies, share data, and maximize efficiency.

The winning candidates, Dr. Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard, are committed to addressing high utility costs by expanding clean energy and fighting rate hikes.

4. More State and Local Wins Across the Country

Our state affiliates launched successful campaigns in important state and local elections nationwide, winning victories for our environment and democracy, from state Supreme Court races to ballot measures to city council races.

Our Impact

Here are just a few highlights where our movement won across the country:

Dig Deeper: Read our 2025 election breakdown on major victories by state affiliates. 

Related: Elida Castillo, LCV’s Chispa Texas Program Director, who is also a city council member in Taft, Texas, won her race for mayor, and is the first woman to be elected to this role. Two other women were also elected to the council, and together they form the first female-majority city council for Taft. Congratulations, Elida! (Elida was also recognized as one of the 100 Latinos Most Committed to Climate Action in 2025.)

Related: Recently, Indiana Conservation Voters successfully helped block efforts by the Trump administration to draw unrepresentative partisan maps in the state. 

5. LCV Action Fund Announces Endorsements for U.S. Senate and House

The 2026 midterm elections are just around the corner, and LCV Action Fund recently announced new rounds of endorsements for the U.S. Senate and House.

Electing Climate Champions to Congress

• Earlier this fall, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund announced endorsements of seven climate champion U.S. senators for re-election next year.
• LCV Action Fund also announced 15 endorsements of candidates for the U.S. House.
• More candidates for 2026 are being added regularly — see the full list of endorsed candidates here.

“We need to elect a majority in Congress next November that will stand up for our democracy and invest in affordable clean energy to bring down energy costs for everyone, protect our air, water, and public lands, and stop Trump from continuing to give away handouts to his Big Polluter and corporate billionaire friends,” said LCV Action Fund Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld.

About LCV Action Fund

• LCV Action Fund works to elect federal candidates who will build a clean energy economy and strengthen our democracy.
• Since the 1990 election cycle, LCV Action Fund has helped elect and re-elect 101 U.S. senators and 513 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Over the last several years, these efforts have built power for the environmental movement and helped elevate clean energy as a critical issue in key elections.