Climate Hawks Vote is delighted to endorse Rick Weiland, running for US Senate in South Dakota; incumbent Tom Udall, US Senator from New Mexico; and incumbent Jeff Merkley, US Senator from Oregon.
Rick is running tirelessly – he’s visited all 311 towns in South Dakota – on a simple message of taking the country back from the big banksters and Big Oil who have polluted our democracy. The crazy race has not one but two independent spoilers. We’re endorsing Rick for one simple reason: he’s a climate hawk of the prairie populist variety.
Rick Weiland has opposed the Keystone XL pipeline from the beginning. Right away he saw the truth of the matter: a big money con to risk the prairies of the heartland while putting profits in the pockets of TransCanada. Of particular interest to energy efficiency experts, he has chaired the International Code Council – he spearheaded efforts to create the nation’s first green construction code for commercial buildings and has met with Chinese officials to exchange ideas. At Climate Hawks Vote, where we scrutinize energy efficiency bills that are introduced by Democrats and throttled by Republicans, we have no doubt that Rick can translate his experience into bills promoting carbon neutral buildings. His experience as a regional FEMA director will give him insights into future disaster management as floods and droughts take their toll on the prairie. And he’s running to limit the power of Koch money to buy our democracy; his first bill will be to give Congress the power to limit spending.
We’re also endorsing stalwart climate hawks Tom Udall and Jeff Merkley. Jeff has introduced climate-related bills on a variety of topics including energy security, electric vehicles, federal planning, and energy efficiency job creation. Tom engages the public, whether drought-stricken farmers or winter athletes, on climate change. Both have spent the past six years establishing themselves as climate champions, and both have earned our endorsement. We are confident in their reelection prospects and continued public service.
