Mike is a civil rights attorney and former public school teacher. He’s crusaded against the Fayette coal plant and its false promises of clean coal and cheap electricity. He’s actively campaigning on bringing a Green New Deal to Texas. He’s signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge. In short, he fits in well with our program of upgrading the House by growing a bloc of genuine climate hawks.
Mike has a good shot at winning. He was recently added to the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” program, meaning that Congressional Democrats will provide him with staff resources. We’re in good company with this endorsement, joining everyone from Bernie Sanders to Elizabeth Warren to Beto O’Rourke to MoveOn and Indivisible.
Mike is running against Michael McCaul, a very powerful Republican in the House (former Homeland Security Committee chair, currently ranking member of House Foreign Affairs Committee) and Congress’ biggest investor in fossil fuel stocks (by a lot). McCaul recently proposed, in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, to engage in a cooling-off period for action on climate change because the issue has gotten “too politicized.” Of course, that kind of delay would only help McCaul’s personal portfolio (somewhere north of $8 million in January) and campaign contributors (top industry: oil & gas). Defeating McCaul would send a powerful message to Congress that the age of fossil fuel dominance is over.
