The Climate Champions We Need in Washington

As Election Day moves closer, Food & Water Action is fighting to elect climate champions. We understand the anxiety surrounding the midterms and the importance of protecting the Democratic majorities in Congress. So we’re mobilizing support for candidates who share our vision and will fight for safe food, clean water and a liveable climate for all of us. 

Here are the candidates Food & Water Action endorses in 2022.

Summer Lee 

(Pennsylvania’s 12th District – Primary winner)

“The people in our community have been fighting back against fossil fuel corporations’ fracking proposals for decades, and I am proud to continue to stand with them.”

Food & Water Action volunteers sent thousands of handwritten letters and made thousands of phone calls to drive voter turnout for Summer Lee. She faced millions of dollars in attack ads from corporate SuperPACs. Ultimately, she won her primary by a margin of 978 votes – every letter and call mattered.

With a history in community organizing, Lee knows how to mobilize supporters and push for real change on the ground. She led the charge against a fracking well in her community and has made her stance clear — fossil fuel drilling has no place in PA. Lee’s election will be a huge victory in a state that has seen uncontrolled fracking and drilling for a decade. 

Jamie McLeod-Skinner 

(Oregon’s 5th District – Primary winner)

“I am running because we are in a time of crisis for our environment, our families, and our democracy.”

Food & Water Action had another major primary victory in Oregon’s 5th District. Jamie McLeod-Skinner, an outspoken advocate on climate and racial justice, defeated an entrenched incumbent who valued Big Pharma donors more than the needs of people and the planet. She won without taking a single cent in corporate money.

A former union member with working-class roots, McLeod-Skinner will be a progressive voice championing policies that put climate, justice and families first. Her race in November will be a nail-biter. Food & Water Action supports her unwaveringly as she runs against a Republican peddling Trump’s anti-democracy conspiracies.

Maxwell Alejandro Frost 

(Florida’s 10th District – Primary on August 28)

“If there is a future, it is a green future. We cannot hesitate and we cannot let big oil, big business, and the 1% decide our fates for us.”

Sending Maxwell Alejandro Frost to Congress won’t just win another vote for climate action; it will send a movement-builder to Washington. A staunch supporter of the Green New Deal, he’ll crack down on corporate polluters so that everyone has access to clean water and air and healthy food.

Along with Food & Water Action, Frost is supported by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, six members of Congress and several progressive advocacy groups.

Representative Andy Levin 

(Michigan’s 11th District – Primary on 8/2)

“Saving our one, precious Earth is a moral imperative, but it’s also an economic opportunity.  I’m an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal, which would create millions of good jobs while solving the climate crisis…”

Andy Levin is a proven champion for the environment. He has fought his entire career against corporations that have endangered our communities and our planet. This year, he’s running in a newly-drawn district against a more conservative colleague in a rare incumbent-on-incumbent race. 

Levin, an original co-sponsor of the WATER Act and the Green New Deal, has led on key legislation including the BUILD Green Act, Buy Green Act and the EV Freedom Act. He wrote and passed the PFAS Safe Disposal Act to keep toxic forever chemicals out of the air. He’s also fighting to shut down Line 5, a dangerous pipeline that cuts across 645 miles of Michigan.

Representative Jamaal Bowman 

(New York’s 16th District – Primary on August 23)

“The scale, scope and urgency of [climate change] surpasses anything we have faced in generations, and the Green New Deal is the only solution that matches our current crisis.”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman is running to keep his seat in New York’s 16th District. In 2020, he won a longshot victory against a 16-term, old-guard Democrat in one of the biggest political upsets in favor of the progressive movement.

He became a proud member of the “Squad” as he advanced the progressive agenda, championing education equity, voting rights, environmental justice and the Green New Deal. While in office, he introduced the Ending Corporate Greed Act, led by Senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey, calling out corporations for price gouging while the American people are getting squeezed. He’s fighting to transition this country to 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030.

David Segal 

(Rhode Island’s 2nd District – Primary on September 13)

“Protecting and improving the environment has long been a priority of mine … I called for a Green New Deal in 2010, and I’m calling for the same thing today.”

Throughout his career, David Segal has fought corporate greed. In 2003, he was the first Green Party candidate to win office in Rhode Island as Providence City Council member. Since then, he’s pushed for expansive investments in renewable energy to transition off fossil fuels. 

In 2022, Segal is the only candidate running in Rhode Island who has taken the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge and he’s the only Green New Deal champion running in his district. Together with Food & Water Action, he’s backed by Senator Bernie Sanders’ political group, Our Revolution, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. 

Your Help Can Change The Outcomes Of These Races

As the climate crisis grows more dire, we need bold policies now. These candidates fight with hope and passion for the future we all want to see, not only for us, but for future generations.

Give today to help these climate champions fight for a seat in Washington!