It can’t be overstated: this year’s elections will be a deciding point on climate and so much more. The 2024 elections will test this country’s commitment to many issues: climate action, abortion access, racial justice, and even democracy itself.

We’re endorsing some of the strongest climate leaders in the country running in the toughest and most important races for climate action – and we need your help so they win! Please donate today to elect our 2024 Summer Green New Deal slate of climate leaders! We’ll be rolling out new endorsements weekly – so stay tuned as we build out a class of climate movement candidates to win this fall.

In the lead up to November’s presidential election, there are state and local elections that have huge impact on climate, environmental justice, access to abortion, housing, public education and more. What’s more, driving turnout for progressives in these critical down ballot elections helps us win up-ballot at the congressional, AND the presidential level.

At Lead Locally, we are helping recruit, train, and resource leaders that, if elected, will:

• Protect majorities in swing state legislatures that recently passed major climate legislation or build inroads in states that must do more;
• Challenge the fossil fuel industry and pass cutting edge legislation for the climate movement in more progressive states that must lead by example;
• And lead as Green New Deal Mayors and City Councillors in cities across the country where they can pass bills to support clean energy, enact bold environmental justice plans, and lead on progressive reform.

All eyes this year of course will be on the White House – but many of these races require just a fraction of what a Senate or presidential race costs, and your money in these elections go SO much further to elect bold climate champs to important positions. Help elect Green New Deal leaders across the country this fall by donating today!

• Arizona: All eyes are on Arizona this year, as the state not only will help decide the White House and Senate, but also Democrats could flip both chambers of their state legislature and secure a trifecta to usher in new climate legislation. Arizonans will also vote on a critical ballot measure to protect abortion access making it all the more important we give our support to these progressive leaders:
  • Judy Schwiebert for Senate District 2: Schwiebert is an incumbent State Representative now running for the Senate who has served her community an English teacher, school librarian, mom, and cofounder of a community theater. In office, she’s cosponsored bills to preserve the state’s groundwater and tackle the state’s water crisis – and is fighting to elect a state house majority in both chambers to pass these efforts!
  • Stephanie Simacek for House District 2: Simacek is a mom, former 1st grade teacher, and Deer Valley Unified School District governing board member who is running to ensure the state invests in conservation, infrastructure, and environmental policies so it does not continue to over-rely on water from the Colorado River and grapple with its water scarcity.
  • Lorena Austin for House District 9: Like their family who spans five generations of civil rights attorneys, teachers, and social workers in Mesa, Austin has given back to their community working in the Maricopa County Community College for over a decade. As an incumbent legislator, Austin has advocated for strong clean energy incentives and needed water conservation measures for the state.
  • Seth Blattman for House District 9: Blattman has been a strong advocate for climate measures in office – namely by leading on negotiations for the renewal of Prop 400, an infrastructure bill that helped fund critical repair for public transportation in the Phoenix metro region. We’re fighting to keep him in office as a strong advocate for clean energy, public transit investments, and water conservation in a critical swing district.
  • Brian Garcia for House District 8: Garcia is a community advocate and lawyer in Phoenix who is running as a Clean Elections candidate, so he can be a reliable advocate for clean energy, public school funding, abortion access, and much more.
  • Juan Mendez House District 8: An incumbent legislator and former community organizer, Mendez was inspired to run because he saw how public investments in education, workforce training, food assistance programs, and childcare helped lift his family out of poverty. He’s fighting to enshrine environmental protections in the state’s constitution and further fight for public investments in community. 
  • Anna Hernandez for Phoenix City Council Ward 7: Hernandez has served in the State Senate where she was a voice for climate justice, workers, and the state’s progressive movement. As the Ward most impacted by industrial activity in Phoenix, Hernandez plans to push stronger environmental justice protections that tackle pollution shortening community members’ life expectancy, and that expand heat protections for workers. 
    
• California: We’re backing bold climate leaders in one of the country’s most progressive states that can exemplify state and climate policy leadership. In the state legislature, we’re backing grassroots-led progressives in tough runoffs who’ll be able to push for stronger regulations on the fossil fuel industry. Several cities will also hold exciting municipal races for climate as well such as: a) Irvine who has a newly districted city council that Democrats can actually win with a Clean Slate excited to pass building electrification legislation, and b) Richmond where progressives have won a governing majority and mayoralty and are running new candidates for retiring incumbents and a Polluters Pay ballot initiative to tax the local refinery for climate damages.
  • Ayn Craciun for Irvine City Council District 4: Craciun chairs the City of Irvine Sustainability Commission and played a crucial role in founding the Orange County Power Authority, which introduced clean energy choices to the area for the first time, as well as establishing Irvine’s policy to eliminate fossil gas use in new buildings. She’s running to ensure the city’s climate plan is legally binding, and finish the work she helped start to ensure all buildings in Irvine are emissions-free.
  • Jing Sun for Irvine City Council District 3: Sun is a local realtor recently appointed to chair the city’s Community Services Commission who is running to make Irvine a climate leader by ensuring new buildings don’t rely on fossil fuels and building greener infrastructure.
  • Jeff Starke for Irvine City Council District 2: Starke is a small business owner and PTA dad who will push to move new housing off of fossil fuels, and denser housing near better transit to reduce the need of cars.
  • Melvin Willis for Richmond City Council District 1: Willis grew up in Richmond and worked as a Community Organizer with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, where he defended the rights of renters and homeowners. Now on City Council, he’s been instrumental in passing rent control, increasing the minimum wage, phasing off coal, and leveraging IRA funds to retire a section of gas infrastructure that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Sue Wilson for Richmond City Council District 5: Wilson has spent her career organizing in the labor movement and in electoral campaigns to help build the progressive city council she’s now hoping to join! She will fight for measures to remediate pollution, build the clean energy industry with union jobs, and is already helping organize Richmond’s historic Make Polluters Pay ballot initiative this fall. 
  • Ysabel Jurado for LA City Council District 14: As a tenants rights attorney, Jurado has stood up to business interests to prevent tenant evictions. She has centered her campaign around ensuring the climate is in every part of LA’s future legislation and will work to require all new buildings be developed carbon-free, expand green spaces, electrify the city’s fleet, and move the city’s energy to renewables.
  • Edward Wright for BART Board District 9: Wright is a community organizer who has worked for several local legislators’ offices and advises on transit strategy and communications. He knows BART itself, one of the country’s largest public transit systems, is a climate strategy – massively reducing the emissions footprint of millions of riders. He’s focused on modernizing BART’s funding model, expanding access to fare-free transit and improving coordination with city services.
  • Terra Lawson-Remer for San Diego Board of Supervisors District 3: Lawson-Remer is an attorney, grassroots organizer, and university educator who, since being elected to office, voted for the county to take bold action to move to 100% renewable energy by 2035. It’s imperative we help keep her in office in a swing district to see through the city’s efforts to move to clean energy.
  • Jovanka Beckles for Senate District 7: Beckles is a longtime East Bay organizer who has served on the Richmond City Council and currently on the AC Transit Board, where she has helped fight for critical climate justice initiatives. She’s running to join the state legislature to advocate for serious, historic investments in Green New Deal infrastructure, clean energy union jobs funded by a strong corporate pollution tax alongside tough environmental regulations against in-state fossil fuel extraction. 
  • Jackie Fielder for San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 9: Fielder is an organizer who rallied at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline and co-founded the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition which helped pass the first-in-the-nation law allowing public banks in California. She’ll push for San Francisco to create a green bank, build equitable carbon-free housing, increase public transition and move forward the goals of the City’s Climate Plan.
    
• Florida:
  • Dot Inman-Johnson for Tallahassee City Commission District 2: Inman-Johnson was formerly elected as the first Black woman on Tallahassee’s City Commission where she voted against a proposed coal plant and fought for climate and environmental justice action in the city. She’s running to regain a seat to restore protections for the environment and community health in the city.
    
• Hawaii: 
  • Kim Coco Iwamoto for House District 25: Iwomoto is a community organizer and former Board of Education Commissioner who has advocated for a Green New Deal in Hawaii, particularly in response to the state’s recent devastating fires that resulted from an underprepared grid and escalating climate conditions. In her last run for office she lost by only 150 votes- and we’re helping her finally get in office to finish the job!
    
• Michigan: By winning slim majorities in both state legislative chambers, MI Democrats were able to pass a landmark climate bill, the Michigan Clean Energy & Jobs Act, putting the state on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2040 while investing in environmental justice, energy efficiency, unionized labor, and more. Not only do we protect this historic win by keeping (and expanding!) seats, these candidates help drive turnout in a critical purple state for the presidential election:
  • Layla Taha for House for District 25: Taha is a community organizer who lead the fight to pass Proposal 3 and enshrine abortion rights in Michigan’s Constitution, and works as a Program Director for Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. She’ll prioritize passing polluter pay laws, investing in water infrastructure to replace all lead service lines, and shutting down fracked gas pipeline Line 5.
  • Denise Mentzer for House District 61: An incumbent state legislator and former city commissioner, Mentzer helped pass Michigan’s landmark clean energy legislation and is working with the state Sierra Club to regulate microplastics and continue to support green energy!
  • Janise O’Neil Robinson for House District 28: Robinson is a special education teacher who has first-hand experience with social services like the Second Injury Fund. As a teacher, she believes in science and will fight for policies that protect waterways, fight against climate change, create good-paying union jobs, and ensure workers are not left behind. 
  • Kyle Wright for House District 29: Wright is a local school board member who has spent his life in Talyor giving back to his community. If elected, he’ll fight to hold polluters accountable through stronger polluter pay laws, advocate for upskilling workers for green jobs, expand access to renewable energy so residents can benefit from the clean energy transition, and fight for transparency in utility rates.
  • Michelle Levine Woodman for House District 62: Woodman is a middle school choir teacher who, if elected, will lead on key climate and environmental justice initiatives by advocating for the development of green infrastructure, promoting climate education in schools and addressing the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards by enforcing stricter regulations on polluting industries.
  • Betsy Coffia for House District 103: Since flipping the seat from a Republican, longtime organizer Coffia has sponsored the Clean Energy Future bills which make Michigan a national leader in climate action, voted to eliminate regulations that allow polluters to “review” environmental rules, and voted to pave the way for large scale wind and solar energy projects.
  • Jaime Churches for House District 27: After spending 10 years as a 5th grade teacher and being elected her union’s vice president, Churches was elected to the state house where she lent a critical vote to the state’s recent climate wins – and will continue to advocate for legislation that makes polluters pay if reelected!
  • Jennifer Conlin for House District 48: Conlin led an impressive decades-long career in journalism before being elected to the state house. She helped pass Michigan’s latest climate bill – and wants to act to address PFAS contamination to protect her constituents’ health. 
  • Reggie Miller House District 31: Miller is an incumbent state representative who has served in local government and volunteered in her community for many years. She was a critical vote for the Clean Energy and Jobs Act, and if reelected, she wants to build on the state’s environmental wins by passing “polluter pay” legislation that will require those who pollute the environment to pay for their clean-ups.
  • Shadia Martini for House District 54: Martini is an architectural engineer whose national advocacy in support of refugees from her birth country of Syria helped pass national legislation that codified accountability against Syrian human rights abusers. If elected, she’ll push for the complete transition from fossil fuels into renewable energy, especially in housing, and fight so every citizen has access to clean water.

• Minnesota: After finally gaining a Democratic trifecta in 2022, Minnesotate was able to pass a groundbreaking climate bill, which requires the state’s utility to provide 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 and commits $2 billion to programs that tackle environmental justice and “forever chemicals.” If we want to protect these wins and ensure the funding that will help achieve them, we need to maintain a Democratic trifecta in the state and keep climate progressives in office during the primary. We’re supporting:
  • Jen Fox for House District 41B: Fox is a Hastings City Councillor and brewery owner who has fought for access to clean and reliable public transportation and will fight in the state legislature for climate policies that transition the state away from fossil fuels and incentivize good paying jobs.
  • Kari Rehrauer for House District 35B: As a science teacher with 20 years under her belt, Rehrauer was inspired to run for Coon City Council after the 2016 presidential election when she was dismayed by the anti-science, anti-environmental direction the country was taking. On city council, she helped pass bills that allowed commercial solar in the city and helped develop and pass the Coon Rapids Energy Plan to expand clean energy use. She’s running for the state legislature to continue the fight to decarbonize the state’s utility, transportation, housing, and much more.
  • Josiah Hill for House District 33B – Hill is a teacher who served as union president of the St. Croix Education Association, and is running for reelection to the state legislature to continue its work protecting the environment and advocating for clean energy.
  • Jess Hanson for House District 55A – Hanson is an progressive incumbent who has championed a “politics of care” in office, including through her support for critical climate and environmental justice bills.
  • María Isa Pérez-Vega for House District 65B – Pérez-Hedges is many things to her community: a director at a community jazz project where she empowers young people through music, an insulin organizer fighting for affordable health care, and an international recording artist. We’re working to keep her elected in the state legislature where she’s been a leader for climate and environmental justice.
  • Jeff Brand for House District 18A: Brand is a current state legislator who runs a small landscaping business and was a Saint Peter City Councilmember. He authored legislation to eliminate carbon in the transportation sector and co-authored the 100% renewable by 2040 legislation, and will continue to fight for climate efforts if reelected.
  • Mark Munger for House District 3B: Munger is the co-executive director of a Lutheran church and is running to help flip a state legislative seat so he can help preserve a future for his grandchildren. He’ll fight for reducing fossil fuel use in MN’s transportation system by expanding charging stations and continuing the state e-bike rebate program.
  • Matt Norris for House District 32B: Morris has been a climate champion in the state legislature where he was proud to vote for MN’s new clean energy law and was instrumental in passing a law that requires new highway projects contribute to emissions reductions. If reelected, he hopes to pass a bill he authored to address PFAS water contamination by eliminating PFAS from firefighting foam, and protect the state’s natural spaces.
  • Pete Radosevich for House District 11A: Radosevich is a small business owner and lawyer who is running to flip a state legislative seat and support a transition to a new energy policy where fossil fuels are the past and clean energy is the future!
  • Lucy Rehm for House District 48B: Lucy Rehm for House District 48B: Rehm is a former Chanhassen City Councillor who was inspired to run for the state legislature to fight for healthy living, families and the environment – and has been a champion for legislation for clean energy, walkable communities, the state e-bike rebate program, and protecting natural resources in office!
    
• Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania is a battleground state in the elections, and in the fight to transition off fossil fuels. We’re supporting a new generation of progressive leaders who will stand up to the fossil fuel industry, fight for environmental justice, and invest in Green New Deal-style legislation like the Whole Home Repairs Act that provides good paying jobs while acting on climate. We’re backing:
  • Brad Chambers for House District 41: Chambers is a labor administrator running in a swing district who will prioritize renewable energy, promote environmental sustainability, and address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on marginalized communities.
  • Eleanor Breslin for House District 143: Breslin is a Township Supervisor in Tinicum and Senior Staff Attorney for the Clean Air Council who believes in the right to clean air and water and helped start an Earth Day program in her town’s local park system. If elected, she’ll work to force gas companies to close the wells they create when they start fracking after they leave the area and establish environmental protections for streams that feed into larger watersheds.
  • Fern Leard for House District 120: Leard became a nurse after her twins were diagnosed with a rare disease, and has spent nearly a decade working in pediatrics and elderly care – during which time she also advocated in Congress for expanding Medicaid coverage. Leard knows it’s our responsibility to ensure that we maintain a sustainable environment for our children, and will fight for climate action and remediation in office.
  • Megan Kocher for House District 119: Kocher grew up in the district she’s running to represent and is running to champion clean energy in Pennsylvania by increasing state subsidies for the renewable industry, creating a grant program for working class families to install solar panels, and working to cut electric bill costs for those in need.
  • Sara Agerton for House District 88: Agerton has spent the last 20 years providing for her community as a social worker during which she was elected to the Mechanicsburg Borough Council. She has led on protecting green space in her town, ​​connecting a rail trail through the borough for walkability, and passing the town’s first ever Climate Action Plan. She will support the Whole Homes Repair Act and fight for investments in infrastructure and good paying jobs that act on climate and environmental justice.
  • Anand Patel for House District 18: Patel is a small business owner who was the only Democrat elected to the Bensalem School Board. If elected, he’ll act to protect the Delaware River watershed, reduce PFAS chemicals in Pennsylvania’s water supply, and make sure every community receives the proper funding to ensure the right to clean water.
  • Brian Munroe for House District 144 – Munroe is a current state representative who has worked with the Democratic House majority to advocate for climate action and recently won increasing funding for solar at schools. He will continue to ensure environmental policy means fair contracting and the usage of union labor when implementing green projects, and will work to ensure the state tackles PFAS contamination which threatens its drinking water.
  • Rayne Reitnauer for District 130: Reitnauer has worked as a veterinary technician and founded a preparatory program for young adults purusuing a career with animals. She’s running to ensure the state moves us away from its dependency on fossil fuels by supporting good paying jobs in the renewable energy industry.
    
• Texas
  • Mike Siegel for Austin City Council District 7: Siegel is longtime community organizer who has centered climate action in his platform in Austin which has suffered through multiple devastating freezes and heat waves in recent years. In a city that owns much of its own utilities, Siegel has laid out a bold plan to close the Fayette coal power plant which contributes 76% of Austin Energy’s emissions, ensure a just transition for its workers, use federal funds to hit the city’s clean energy goals, and locally incentivize building electrification and clean energy job creation through tools like a green bank.
    
• Virginia:
  • Willie Hilliard for Richmond City Council District 6: Hilliard is a local barber and community advocate who helped create the North Side Food Access Coalition, a community garden and farmers market after the city provided no solutions for food scarcity in the area. He’s running to ensure the city’s government represents its residents not wealthy business interests – and will advocate for the city’s climate plan, the RVA Green 2050, to become an ordinance and not just a resolution.