The Senate Races and the Environment
In a series of posts, I surveyed the key Senate races — meaning those that didn’t seem to be “locks” for either candidate. (i didn’t include the McCaskill-Akin race, which McCaskill won.) The candidates differed greatly in their positions on the environment and on energy policy. Here is a quick summary of what was at stake on those issues in each of these seven key elections and how they came out:
| State | Democratic Candidate | Republican Candidate | Comments |
| Connecticut | Chris Murphy. Murphy has served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and has a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. | A key race environmentally. Murphy could be a leader on environmental issues. | |
| Indiana | Joe Donnelly. Supportive of fossil fuels but also emphasizes renewables. | Somewhat conservative democrat versus tea party candidate. | |
| Massachusetts | Liz Warren. Emphasizes support for renewable energy. | Candidates mirror environmental positions of their national parties. | |
| Montana AP has called this for Tester, who claims victory. | Jon Tester. Tester has a 87% LCV rating. | Denny Rehberg has a 6% lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters (quite a bit lower than Paul Ryan’s). | An especially stark contrast in environmental views. |
| NevadaOutcome still unclear but some media have called it for Heller. | Shelley Berkley. Berkley focuses heavily on the issues most relevant to Nevada — renewable energy and public lands. | Dean Heller. 14% rating from League of Conservation Voters. | An unusual race: Heller doesn’t mention Romney’s main talking points on energy, while Berkley focuses exclusively on issues with strong state relevance. |
| Virginia | Tim Kaine. Strong environmental advocate. | Largely mirrors national party positions, except that Kaine seems to have especially warm feelings toward the state’s landscape. | |
| Wisconsin | Tammy Baldwin. Supports cap-and-trade and other environmental measures. | Baldwin champions environmental protection. |
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About Dan
Dan Farber has written and taught on environmental and constitutional law as well as about contracts, jurisprudence and legislation. Currently at Berkeley Law, he has al…
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Minor correction: The Republican candidate for Senate in Montana is Denny (not Danny) Rehberg.
Thanks for the correction. My apology to Mr. Rehberg.
Minor correction: The Republican candidate for Senate in Montana is Denny (not Danny) Rehberg.
Thanks for the correction. My apology to Mr. Rehberg.