Todd Young (left), Indiana Republican hopeful, may not believe in climate change, but he does believe in hard hats.
Yesterday, the Wonk Room identified six key U.S. Senate races in which a climate vote is threatened by a global warming denier. Today, we’re taking a look at the U.S. House of Representatives. We’ve identified eight top House races in which a strong supporter for action to reduce global warming pollution is being challenged by a global warming denier.
The Republicans in these races not only stand against comprehensive climate policy, like nearly all the rest of their party, they proudly proclaim that the overwhelming evidence of the threat of greenhouse gas pollution is a “hoax,” a “religion,” and “crap.” The sitting representatives are climate activists who voted in favor of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act in 2009, recognizing that our economy and environment are mutually threatened by our dependence on fossil fuels. Here are the eight races between climate heroes and anti-science deniers this November (with the 538.com estimated likelihood of a Republican pickup):
| RACE (% likelihood of GOP pickup) | CLIMATE HERO | CLIMATE DENIER |
|---|---|---|
| N.M.-2: 76% | Rep. Harry Teague | Steve Pearce |
| “Crack down on global warming and protect the the environment that our children and their children will inherit.” | “I think we ought to take a look at whatever the group is that measures all this, the IPCC, they don’t even believe the crap.” | |
| Iowa-2: 63% | Rep. Leonard Boswell | Brad Zaun |
| “I believe the science is clear: carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to unprecedented climate changes. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned repeatedly that unless the industrial world acts soon, projected increases in emissions over the next fifty years will lead to drastic ecological changes, endangering countless species and human health.” | “I question global warming.” | |
| Ill.-14: 63% | Rep. Bill Foster | Randy Hultgren |
| “We must aggressively combat climate change, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and promote cleaner and more economical sources of energy.” | “I don’t believe we have a significant impact on climate change.” | |
| Calif.-11: 62% | Rep. Jerry McNerney | David Harmer |
| “Climate change is one of the most important issues facing our country. In fact, if left unchecked, climate change will seriously harm our environment, our economy, and our way of life, threatening our ecosystem and the availability of fresh water for drinking and agriculture.” | “Global warming is more a religion than a science.” | |
| Ind.-9: 58% | Rep. Baron Hill | Todd Young |
| “Ending our dependence on foreign oil and using renewable energy to help fight global warming will make our nation stronger.” | “With the possible exception of Tiger Woods, nothing has had a worse year than global warming. We have discovered that a good portion of the science used to justify “climate change” was a hoax perpetrated by leftist ideologues with an agenda.” | |
| Fla.-22: 43% | Rep. Ron Klein | Allen West |
| “This bill will strengthen our national security, lower energy costs, create jobs, and reduce our impact on global warming.” | “If we could just get President Obama and former Vice-President Al Gore to apologize to God reference (sic) ‘man-made global warming/climate change’ perhaps we would not all be freezing, even in South Florida!” | |
| N.M.-1: 26% | Rep. Martin Heinrich | Jon Barela |
| “This bipartisan group of wildlife and conservation leaders share my strong belief that we must do more to fight climate change and protect our planet for generations to come.” | “If you look at the recent snowfall in the East Coast and certainly our winter, you have the ebbs and flows of climate change, and that’s just simply how how things have worked for the millennia, and for the eons.” | |
| Ill.-17: 26% | Rep. Phil Hare | Bobby Schilling |
| “The overwhelming scientific consensus is that global warming is real, it is a threat, and a failure to act soon will leave our children in a very dangerous world.” | According to the Galesburg Register-Mail, Schilling “doesn’t believe in global warming, putting him at odds with almost every major climate change expert in the world but in good standing with his base.” |
Please note that this is not necessarily an exhaustive list of races in which a strong supporter of action to protect human civilization from climate catastrophe is running against a global warming denier. We certainly may have missed some — please note any we’ve missed in the comments.
