With last night’s results still coming in, one thing is already crystal clear: California’s environment was the big winner, thanks in large part to CLCV members like you!
In two state legislative races, CLCV went head-to-head against huge expenditures by Big Oil, and our endorsed candidates won by big margins! Voters in Assembly District 30 rejected oil company efforts to defeat environmental champion Robert Rivas – author of California’s first countywide ban on fracking! CLCV and our progressive partners ran a campaign in support of Rivas, amplifying his environmental record asking voters, Why Big Oil is so afraid of Robert Rivas? Voters listened, and Rivas won on election night with nearly 45% of the vote.
CLCV priority candidate Mike Eng won his primary for Senate by a wide margin, despite more than $1.3 million being spent by oil companies to defeat him. CLCV worked to sunlight oil’s multi-million dollar investment against Eng, as well as promote Eng’s strong record on the environment, and voters responded. Eng goes on to face a competitive election in the general, and CLCV will be there to help him across the victory line!
Throughout the state, California voters sent a strong message: our votes and our environmental protections are not for sale!
There were big wins statewide too! Voters approved Proposition 68, which CLCV members helped get on the ballot, providing nearly $4.1 billion in new funding for our state and community parks, and to improve water quality – the largest investment in public lands in over a decade!
What’s more, voters resoundingly defeated Proposition 70 by a huge margin – rejecting this corporate-led attack on climate action. CLCV and our friends at CEJA opposed this measure from day one and worked together to defeat Prop 70. CLCV signed on to the official voter guide argument opposing Prop 70, met with editorial boards, did interviews and podcasts, and with allies successfully pushed the California Democratic Party to oppose the measure. In fact, not a single county voted to support the measure!
Thanks to your support, 100% of CLCV’s positions on the state propositions prevailed!
All of CLCV’s endorsed candidates for statewide office advanced to the November election, with most doing so by taking first place: Eleni Kounalakis for Lieutenant Governor, Ricardo Lara for Insurance Commissioner, Tony Thurmond for State Superintendant of Public Instruction, Alex Padilla for Secretary of State, Betty Yee for Controller, and Fiona Ma for Treasurer.
Looking towards November, some of the most critical races to win will be those to defeat anti-environmental Republican Congress members. Despite misleading attacks by his opponents and an incredibly crowded field, our endorsed candidate for Congress in District 49, Mike Levin, won the primary. CD 49 gained national attention and statewide importance due to the high number of Democratic challengers and the fear that only anti-environmental Republicans would make the top-two. CLCV endorsed clean energy advocate Mike Levin early in this race and fought hard to make sure votes would have a strong environmental champion to support in November!
Votes are still being counted in close contests across the state, but it looks like every targeted, anti-environmental Republican member of Congress will face a pro-environmental challenger in November. In fact, we may have more opportunities to elect new environmental champions to Congress this year than at any time in recent history!
Last night’s victories were huge – thanks to your support – and the race to November begins today.
We can now envision just as big of a victory in November, and we need your help to make this vision a reality. Please donate today to help celebrate last night’s big wins and to ensure we have the resources necessary to fight through November.
