Hi friend, While votes will still be counted in the next few days and weeks, we have a good snapshot of yesterday’s California Primary Election results. I’ll be honest with you, friend: The election was a mixed bag for climate champions up and down the state, especially with historically low turnout and millions spent by corporate polluters. Here are some of the toplines: Turnout was historically low.
While votes are still being tallied, it’s likely that we experienced close to California’s lowest ever turnout. Low turnouts have historically led to worse results for the environment and yesterday was no exception. This is even more reason for the state to invest in voter education and outreach, especially for youth and people of color. (This is something we can address RIGHT NOW. If you haven’t already, email legislative leadership to invest in more robust voter education and outreach.) Despite facing significant corporate polluter money, we had some big wins.
In our top priority races, some of our endorsed candidates struggled to turn out enough younger and more environmentally-friendly voters to defeat industry-backed candidates with war chests of corporate money and a more favorable electorate (older and more conservative). However, six of our eight priority Senate candidates and a majority of our priority Assembly candidates advanced to the general election, including Dave Jones (Sacramento County), Steve Padilla (Imperial/San Diego County), and Aisha Wahab (Silicon Valley/East Bay). Incumbents had a good night.
Despite redistricting changing their seats, incumbents did well at the state and federal level. In many of the legislative races, incumbents, such as climate champion Assemblymember Alex Lee in San Jose, will likely be facing a Republican in November, their idea scenario, instead of a fellow Democrat in a safe blue seat. Meanwhile, statewide incumbents including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla all easily secured a spot in the general election. What this means for November:
Historically low turnout and corporate polluters spending massive amounts of money to defeat climate champion candidates is not a great recipe for success. Turnout is always better in a general election than a primary, but we need to turn our attention to November NOW and start organizing and mobilizing to elect climate champions who will stand up to corporate interests and fight for Californians. And we need to continue to raise money for our PAC (Political Action Committee) entities and partners to give a boost to those climate champions, especially the ones up against industry-backed climate delayers. |
