The Virginia League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has announced its endorsements for the general election. From the LCV's press release:In the statewide races, VALCV endorsed Creigh Deeds for Governor, Jody Wagner for Lieutenant Governor and Steve Shannon for Attorney General. Headlining the list of House of Delegate endorsements are conservation champions who face tough reelection campaigns like Delegate Joe Bouchard (District 83 – Virginia Beach) and Delegate Margi Vanderhye (34 – McLean) as well as challengers like Greg Werkheiser (42 – Springfield) who will help move Virginia towards a clean energy economy.Other LCV endorsements of Democrats in races I'm watching (because they're competitive, potentially competitive, possible takeovers, etc.) include:
The full list of endorsements can be found at our website.
"Virginia voters understand that shifting to a clean energy economy will create good paying jobs and offer relief for hard hit industries in Virginia while helping to combat serious threats from climate change at the same time,” said Lisa M. Guthrie, Executive Director of VALCV, whose Board of Directors voted on the endorsements. "These endorsements will make clear to voters which candidates have real solutions to improving Virginia’s economy and environment.”
John Bell (13th district)
Robert Mathieson (21st district)
Margi Vanderhye (34th district)
Kaye Kory (38th district)
Greg Werkheiser (42nd district)
Scott Surovell (44th district)
Jeannette Rishell (50th district)
Paul Nichols (51st district)
Luke Torian (52nd district)
Tom Shields (73rd district)
Joe Bouchard (83rd district)
Congratulations to everyone who received the LCV endorsement, although I must say that some of these people - like David Englin and Joe Bouchard, for instance - are true environmental heroes, while others range from "good" to "so-so." I guess it's all relative. Also, I find it interesting that so few Republicans received the LCV's endorsement. There's no reason that the environment should be a partisan issue, and I wish it weren't, but unfortunately most Republicans are not friends of the environment, while most Democrats are. That's just the way it is these days, in yet another sign of how far the Republican Party has strayed from its Teddy Roosevelt progressive roots.
P.S. I had actually heard from an inside source a while back that the LCV might not make an endorsement in the governor's race because they weren't particularly excited with either Creigh Deeds or Bob McDonnell (in the primary, the LCV reportedly only considered endorsing Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, ultimately endorsing McAuliffe). In the end, though, I'm sure the LCV decided to endorse Deeds given how utterly heinous Bob McDonnell will be on the environment, and also given Deeds' focus on promoting green energy, LEED standards for buildings, land conservation, and an "energy research triangle." In contrast, McDonnell is a consummate "fossil fool," stuck in the past with his "drill baby drill" mentality while countries like China race ahead of us (and while the planet continues to heat up dangerously fast). Given that choice, there's no choice at all: McDonnell's a nightmare, Deeds at least offers hope for environmental progress in Virginia.
