Vote Climate U.S. PAC

Vote Climate U.S. PAC is an American super PAC founded in 2013 and directed by American political activist Karyn Strickler. Its mission is "to elect candidates to get off fossil fuels, transition to clean, renewable energy and put a price on carbon, in order to slow global warming and related weather extremes." Strickler has named the implementation of a carbon tax as a principal goal. As a super PAC (a type of political action committee), the organization cannot contribute to candidates but can make independent expenditures on their behalf.
History
2014
The PAC began operations with the 2014 midterm elections. It identified three top-priority races for the U.S. Senate and three for the U.S. House. It stated its selection criteria:
Priority races are in hotly contested, swing districts where:
* Victory is not guaranteed and support from climate voters and activists could make a difference.
* Climate change is a pivotal issue that could be the difference between victory and defeat.
* Priority candidates are leaders on the issue and there is a sharp distinction between them and their opponent on climate change.
* Victory could make a difference for the issue by electing or re-electing a climate leader.
The PAC was successful in all three Senate races and in two of the three House races in 2014. Its candidates, all Democrats, were:
U.S. Senate
* Gary Peters (Michigan) (won)
* Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) (won)
* Al Franken (Minnesota) (won)
U.S. House
* Pete Aguilar () (won)
* Scott Peters () (won)
* Andrew Romanoff () (lost)
2016
Vote Climate U.S. PAC began preparation for the 2016 elections with production of the "Holy BLEEP Mabel" series, an ad campaign that follows the quirky couple Mabel and Manny as they experience weather extremes related to climate change. The PAC sought donations to air the ad campaign during the election season, and reported that more than 442,000 people had viewed the ads.
Election results
As in 2014, the PAC identified six critical races in hotly contested, swing districts with climate change leaders, for whom it implemented a paid, social media campaign. These priority candidates (all Democrats) and the results of the races were:
U.S. Senate
* Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire) (won)
* Russ Feingold (Wisconsin) (lost)
* Katie McGinty (Pennsylvania) (lost)
U.S. House
* Carol Shea-Porter () (won)
* Brad Schneider () (lost)
* Emily Cain () (lost)
In addition to the six priority races, the PAC made other endorsements, stating:
These are climate-action candidates. Our endorsement recognizes their leadership on climate change. While Vote Climate U.S. PAC takes no credit for our endorsed candidate’s victories, 90% won their races - 100% in the U.S. Senate, 82% in the U.S. House.<ref name="2016 results"/>
The endorsed candidates were
U.S. Senate
Chris Van Hollen (D) MD - WINNER
Chuck Schumer (D) NY - WINNER
Kamala Harris (D) CA - WINNER
Brian Schatz (D) HI - WINNER
Patty Murray (D) WA - WINNER
Richard Blumenthal (D) CT - WINNER
Patrick Leahy (D) VT - WINNER
Catherine Cortez Masto (D) NV - WINNER
Ron Wyden (D) OR - WINNER
U.S. House
Jamie Raskin (D) MD-8 - WINNER
John Delaney (D) MD-6 - WINNER
Don McEachin (D) VA-4 - WINNER
Nanette Barragan (D) CA-44 - WINNER
Ted Lieu (D) CA-33 - WINNER
Salud Carbajal (D) CA-24 - WINNER
Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) - IL-8 - WINNER
John B. Larson (D) CT-1 - WINNER
Earl Blumenauer (D) OR-3 - WINNER
Morgan Carroll (D) CO-6 - Loss
Shaughnessy Naughton (D) PA-8 - Loss
Concerning the 2016 results, the PAC stated:
Vote Climate U.S. PAC puts our hope in our 3 top priority winners, and our endorsed candidates, that in these challenging times, we might still make some progress on the issue of climate change and at least that they will obstruct attempts to move backwards before the 2018 election. We are proud of the racial and gender diversity that our top priority and endorsed candidates represent.<ref name="2016 results"/>
Campaign work
Facebook Ad Campaign
Overall Reach All Ads:
1,038,024
(Breakdown of some ads below)
Holy BLEEP Mabel Ad Results
Reach:
618,946 REACHED U.S. Senate & U.S. House TOTAL
442,033 VIEWED
71% Average
U.S. Senate
344,038 U.S. SENATE REACH
238,091 VIDEO VIEWS
69%
Maggie Hassan (D) NH - WINNER 76,256 Reach/60,025 Views/79%
Russ Feingold (D) WI - Loss
Katie McGinty (D) PA - Loss
U.S. House
273,537 HOUSE REACH
202,179 VIDEO VIEWS
74%
Carol Shea-Porter (D) NH-1 - WINNER 88,447 Reach/63,281 Views/70%
Brad Schneider (D) IL-10 - WINNER 109,439 Reach/76,727 Views/70%
Emily Cain (D) ME-2 - Loss
Bliss or This Ad Results
General Slide Show & Priority Candidate/Trump Slide Show Combined
62,840 Reach
42,225
67%

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