As Big Oil companies release Q2 profits, top environmental super PAC launches massive campaign to elect climate champions and take down the worst pro-polluter candidates

Washington, D.C. – Today, LCV Victory Fund announced a $12.8 million field organizing effort with state affiliates and partners to knock at least 1.17 million doors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, support pro-environment, pro-democracy champions in the 2022 midterms, and take down the worst pro-polluter candidates. The Georgia organizing effort will be run by Family Friendly Action PAC, with major support from the New American Jobs Fund, a joint effort of LCV Victory Fund and the United Steelworkers (USW Works). Additionally, LCV Victory Fund named the first 6 candidates to its signature 2022 House and Senate Dirty Dozen list of the worst anti-environmental candidates: Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, North Carolina Senate candidate Rep. Ted Budd (NC-13), and New Mexico Rep. Yvette Herrell (NM-02).

The massive campaign announcement comes during the same week that oil and gas companies are beginning to report their Q2 profits – including Chevron, Exxon, and Shell which are all expected to report outrageously high earnings during a period where consumers paid historically high gas prices. Many of the anti-environment candidates targeted in the Dirty Dozen have taken exorbitant campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry and related groups and consistently side with polluters over voters seeking relief from high gas prices.

“As voters pay high gas prices and suffer from climate-fueled extreme heat, fire, droughts, and flooding, no candidate in 2022 can get away with taking massive contributions from the corrupt oil and gas industry that is making the climate crisis worse,” said LCV Victory Fund SVP of Campaigns Pete Maysmith. “That’s why LCV Victory Fund is naming the worst of the worst midterm candidates to our Dirty Dozen and organizers across the country are hitting the streets to talk to voters about the importance of electing a true pro-environment majority in the Senate, and protecting and electing pro-climate Governors and other state-level officials. There is nothing more effective than having face-to-face conversations with voters about the stakes in this election, and LCV Victory Fund is thrilled to get back out on the doors this cycle.”

Today’s news marks the return to in-person electoral field organizing for LCV Victory Fund. The group has a long history of running large-scale canvassing programs that have helped deliver decisive margins in close races for more than a decade, but was unable to do so in 2020. This $12.8 million field organizing effort is part of the previously announced $100 million Climate Votes Project joint effort between Climate Power Action, Climate Reality Action Fund, EDF Action Votes (EDF AV), LCV Victory Fund (LCVVF), NRDC Action Votes (NRDC AV), and NextGen PAC.

On Thursday, July 28, canvassing operations will start up in Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Georgia and Michigan organizers will start hitting the doors in the coming weeks. The field organizing programs will all run through Election Day, November 8. 

Electoral targets differ by state and will continue to evolve as additional primaries take place. Current plans:

Some of the same states we’re organizing in are also home (or temporary home in the case of Dr. Oz) to the inaugural members of the 2022 House and Senate Dirty Dozen. 

More information on the first 6 members of the Dirty Dozen:

Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt (also launching $2.4M+ field program in NV)

Laxalt is a climate denier who has benefitted from millions in outside spending linked to Big Oil. As Nevada Attorney General, Laxalt signed a letter defending ExxonMobil Corp. saying there is a “reasonable suspicion” of climate science. In his failed 2018 gubernatorial run, Laxalt benefitted from more than $2.5 million in outside spending from groups bankrolled by Big Oil. Additionally, Laxalt worked with Trump to try to overturn the 2020 election, continues to perpetuate the Big Lie to this day, says he would investigate the 2020 election if elected to the Senate, and won’t commit to voting to certify hypothetical 2024 presidential election results.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (also launching $2.8M+ field program in WI)

Johnson is a climate denier with an abysmal lifetime LCV score of 7% and has accepted close to $600,000 in campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry over the years. Johnson recently called climate change “bullshit.” Sen. Johnson consistently votes against clean air and water protections, voted to block the Clean Power Plan, and votes to protect polluters’ interests. Johnson falsely blamed renewable energy for the 2021 Texas blackouts and, like Trump, speculated that there are “health” issues with wind turbines. Johnson publicly pushed the Big Lie but privately acknowledged that Trump lost the 2020 election. He also said that the events on January 6 “did not seem like an armed insurrection.”

Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker (also launching $750K field program in GA)

Walker is a serial liar who recently made nonsensical remarks about his views on climate change saying that, “since we don’t control the air, our good air decided to float over to China’s bad air. So when China gets our good air, their bad air gotta move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then, now, we’ve got to clean that back up.” This incoherent statement is in line with most of Walker’s political speeches. Walker pushed the Big Lie, called for the Supreme Court to disqualify the 2020 election results, and was friends and fundraised with a man who organized multiple bus rides to the January 6 insurrection. 

Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz (also launching $2M+ field program in PA)

Dr. Oz is a longtime resident of New Jersey and has no real connection to Pennsylvania. He is a climate denier and echoed climate denier talking points early in his campaign saying, the “ideology that carbon is bad” is “a lie” because it only makes up “.04% of our air.” He has repeatedly said that the Green New Deal is a lie, and that the “technology doesn’t exist” to transition to clean energy. He also parroted the debunked conspiracy theory that “much of the woke green movement was funded by Putin” on Sean Hannity’s show. Dr. Oz pushed the Big Lie and has said that “we cannot move on” from the 2020 election, implying he would investigate the election if elected Senator.

North Carolina Senate candidate Rep. Ted Budd

Budd is a climate denier, had a staggering 0% LCV score in 2021, and has a 3% lifetime score. Rep. Budd has said he didn’t see “clear evidence” that humans were contributing to global warming, then later said “there isn’t agreement on how much” humans contributed. Budd has also said that the answer to the current energy crisis is to produce more fuel in the U.S., and his anti-environment votes include opposing the Build Back Better Act, voting against the overwhelmingly popular Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act, and many different votes to allow toxic pollution to spew into our air and water. Budd also supported the Big Lie and voted against certifying election results in AZ and PA on January 6.

New Mexico Rep. Yvette Herrell (NM-02)

Despite being named the new Ranking Member on the Environment Subcommittee on House Oversight, Herrell has an awful 0% lifetime LCV score and is one of the top 10 recipients of oil and gas contributions in the House, having already raked in $173,219 from the oil and gas industry this cycle. Herrell has a long history of siding with special interests to advance her own career – she has long standing relationships with Koch-funded lobbying group ALEC and proposed an extreme attack on New Mexico’s public lands that could result in national parks being sold off to private developers when she was in the NM House. Herrell’s anti-environment votes include opposing the Build Back Better Act and voting against the overwhelmingly popular Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act. Herrell praised the Supreme Court decision in WV vs. EPA, while the largest climate-fueled wildfire in New Mexico’s history ravaged her state and displaced thousands.

The field organizing efforts announced today are being run in partnership with LCV state affiliates in Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the Michigan program is a sole program of our state affiliate Conservation Voters of Michigan PAC, and the Georgia program will be run entirely by Family Friendly Action PAC, with support from the New American Jobs Fund. The New American Jobs Fund is a joint effort of the United Steelworkers (USW Works) and LCV Victory Fund focused on large-scale voter persuasion and mobilization in critical federal races across the country.

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Paid for by LCV Victory Fund, www.lcvvictoryfund.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.