Last night, New Jersey led the clean water wave that helped ensure a pro-environment majority will set the agenda in the US House of Representatives. Garden State voters sent people to Washington who will defend clean water and take the urgent action we need to address the climate crisis. We sent a clear message that we expect our elected officials to prioritize our health and water, instead of corporate special interests.
Thanks to the support of voters like you, Clean Water candidates Bob Menendez, Mikie Sherrill, Josh Gottheimer, and Tom Malinowski will represent us in the US Senate and Congress. While Andy Kim's race has not yet been decided, Clean Water Action proved that the pro-environment vote in South Jersey is a growing force in our state’s politics. This is a huge win for the environment, our water, and our communities!
These are big wins. New Jersey is not routinely known for battleground elections, and our Congressional districts rarely swing, but this year, grassroots efforts in each House race made the difference! In the four competitive races that Clean Water Action worked on, our canvassers knocked on over 220,000 doors. Our grassroots canvass team was a difference-maker!
On the national level, Clean Water Action organizers were engaged in get out the vote efforts in competitive races around the country. We knocked on doors and contacted voters from Texas to Michigan to New Jersey. And we won! This wave of newly elected representatives includes candidates who explicitly ran on protecting clean water, fighting climate change, and fighting back against environmental rollbacks. They represent the grassroots organizers that helped to get them elected, not special moneyed interests. And it’s all thanks to you and other Clean Water Action members!
Elections matter. When we send pro-environment candidates to Washington, we can win victories for our air, water, and climate, and stop special interests from undermining our democracy. But we can’t let our efforts end now that the midterm elections are over.
Now is the time for all of us to stay involved and engaged. There is so much to do right now, right here in the Garden State. Over the next few months, we’ll be working to address plastics and Styrofoam, stop fracking waste from polluting New Jersey’s drinking water, block efforts to build oil and gas infrastructure in the Pinelands, Highlands, and Jersey Shore, and adopt renewable energy policies to address the climate crisis. In addition, New Jersey’s entire State Assembly will be up for re-election in 2019 which is another opportunity for the grassroots to send a pro-environment message to our elected officials. We need members like you to continue to stay involved and fight with us to make sure that we can continue to move our state forward towards a greener, cleaner future.
