Greens grow into electoral powerhouse

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and DARREN GOODE

The green movement has grown into a formidable political force, launching a broad and sophisticated operation this election cycle that rivals many of the most established groups.

Leading environmental organizations like the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club and Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action Committee have hired well-known national and state political operatives to guide the effort, and they are digging into detailed polling and analysis produced by the same white-shoe firms that helped President Barack Obama get elected. More than ever, greens are collaborating with other progressive groups like unions, Planned Parenthood and EMILY’s List, sharing resources and divvying up responsibilities in key states.

While environmental groups have long been involved in electoral politics, only recently has their work started turning heads. For years, greens were seen as second-tier players, unable to muster enough power to sway race outcomes. Now they’re spending millions to help Democrats hold the Senate and inject issues like climate change into the political debate.

Several environmentalists said privately they expect to outspend all outside groups in several key states, with the exception of the Republican and Democratic Party organizations.

“Relatively speaking, the environmentalists used to be a small player. Now in many places we’re the biggest player,” League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski said. “That’s a huge change.”

“This cycle you have really seen the environmental, climate movement across the board play in the most significant way — from a financial perspective, from an organizational perspective and from an impact perspective,” said veteran Democratic operative Chris Lehane, one of Steyer’s top advisers. Steyer alone has contributed $57.6 million to his super PAC this year, including an additional $16 million last week, according to the most recent FEC filings.

Although polls show Republicans ahead in the contest to control the Senate, greens hope to re-create the model they used in the Montana Senate race in 2012, where LCV spent more than $1 million on an elaborate field campaign aimed at boosting turnout for Jon Tester. Analysts like Nate Silver had given Republican Denny Rehberg the edge in the tight race, but Tester pulled out a win thanks in part to greens’ get-out-the-vote efforts. LCV says it signed up more than 28,000 Tester supporters to vote by mail, and in the end, Tester beat Rehberg by about 18,000 votes.

“All the pundits thought he was going to lose, but we expanded the electorate,” Karpinski said. “We have the same goal in 2014.”

This cycle certainly looks set to be the biggest test yet of environmental groups’ effectiveness.

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