How Did NYLCV’s Candidates Fare in The Primary Election?

Around the state, NYLCV has been pushing mayors, town supervisors, and local legislators to step up their environmental advocacy. Fighting climate change, protecting open spaces and waterways, and ensuring no community has to bear undue environmental burdens have become central themes for our partners in local government. This is in no small part thanks to continued advocacy from members like you.

We are proud of this progress but saying the right things and voting the right way is not enough anymore. The winds of change in Washington have turned and we can’t rely on the federal government to protect us from so-called 500-year storms like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma that are happening on an almost annual basis. Major cities, counties and towns must set the example on curbing climate change while ensuring that we are prepared for the inevitable next extreme weather event.

That’s the charge we put on candidates seeking our endorsement this year. After receiving questionnaires and a rigorous screening process, we made endorsements in 26 races that had a competitive primary election this week.

We’re pleased to report that 22 of these green leaders won, with 2 races too close to call and just 2 losses. We are excited by new leaders who won yesterday and are poised to join the front lines if they win again in November including: Jack Schnirman, who is running for Nassau County Comptroller and Keith Powers, Carlina Rivera and Justin Brannan, who are running for New York City Council.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, White Plains Mayor Tom Roach, as well as a number of other incumbents, stepped up their environmental leadership over the course of their last term but faced tough challenges. They earned our endorsement and won handily yesterday too.

For a detailed list of how our candidates performed, check out the table, below.

We have high expectations for our endorsed candidates in their next terms, assuming they all win in November. We will have a lot of returning faces but the world is changing fast. We will need them to change and adapt to it even faster, getting out in front of huge environmental challenges.