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The Center for Western Priorities released a new report, “Winning the West: Election 2022,” detailing how public lands were a winning issue in the 2022 election and how pro-conservation positions often gave candidates a competitive edge in close races.
According to the report, candidates like new Congressman Gabe Vasquez in New Mexico highlighted their conservation agendas and records to win close elections against candidates like incumbent Yvette Herrell, who sided more often with oil and gas development.
In the race for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat, Senator Michael Bennet used recent public lands victories, including President Biden’s designation of Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, to connect with voters and handily win an election that was expected to be much closer.
Other Western contests saw anti-conservation candidates win by much smaller margins than expected, such as former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who narrowly defeated environmental attorney Monica Tranel for Montana’s open House seat in a race that ended up taking several days to call.
“Looking ahead, the election outcomes serve as clear guidance for President Biden and for members of Congress as they set their respective agendas for the next two years," said Jennifer Rokala, Executive Director of the Center for Western Priorities. “With dysfunction all but certain to paralyze Congress, the president can use the next two years to build a solid conservation legacy using executive action, which remains overwhelmingly popular with the public. And members of Congress can know that voters see and appreciate their conservation efforts despite gridlock in Congress.”
With a growing outdoor voting bloc and high-profile competitive U.S. Senate races in Arizona, Nevada, and Montana on the ballot in 2024, the Center for Western Priorities will continue tracking the connection between public lands issues and electoral success.
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We as Americans have a lot of emphasis on our historical records that we maintain in libraries and archives and the tribes traditionally didn’t do that. But these archaeological sites are in a sense the books (of a library). They’re the record of human occupancy in [Grand Canyon National Park] and the history of the tribes. In that respect, it’s important they be maintained as long as possible.”
