Putting the Cry into Crypto

Green New Dealers notch some major victories and some hard losses

Author

Brad Johnson
May 18, 2022

PRESENTED BY GOAT NOODS

Yesterday was a big primary day, with some big wins for the climate movement, despite a torrential flood of crypto-and-oil billionaire cash. Let’s see how well our crop of potatoes did:

OREGON

Green New Deal champion Andrea Salinas crushed crypto-bro Carrick Flynn last night, as the Democratic voters in Oregon’s Sixth District saw through $11 MILLION of propaganda from crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried and another $1 million each from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House Majority PAC1 and the otensibly-AAPI Justice Unites Us PAC. Embarrassingly, Flynn had also been endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation, who has yet to admit who paid them to do so.

Salinas also blew past Cody Reynolds, who spent $2 million of his own money to try to buy the seat, and crypto enthusiast Matt West, who spent $600,000.

In contrast, Salinas, a member of the Oregon House of Representatives and the former legislative director for the Oregon Environmental Council, won with a campaign that raised $640,000 and had the support of $1.6 million in outside support from the League of Conservation Voters and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.2

She now heads into the general election against climate denier Mike Erickson.

Although ballot snafus in Clackamas County mean final results are delayed, it’s also looking like rural climate hawk Jamie McLeod-Skinner is headed to victory in Oregon’s Fifth District against the execrable Rep. Kurt Schrader, who earned an endorsement from President Joe Biden by working to block the president’s agenda. Schrader’s backers outspent McLeod-Skinner’s 10-1, but voters actually don’t like him.

In Oregon’s Fourth District, climate hawk Doyle Canning fell to fossil-friendly Val Hoyle, who had been backed by the outgoing Rep. Peter DeFazio.

And we’re still waiting to find out whether Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, a Lead Locally endorsee, will face the copaganda dude or the real-estate dude for her Portland City Council seat.

PENNSYLVANIA

Lt. Governor John Fetterman easily secured the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race, but it’s not clear yet which fascist lunatic he’ll face in the fall.

The dynamic Green New Dealer Summer Lee is holding a small lead over the oil-backed Crocodile Hunter in the 12th District. With a 446 vote lead and 93% of the votes counted, she has declared victory but her opponent has not yet conceded.

Looking at Lead Locally’s downballot slate:

  • DSA Philadelphia candidate Paul Prescod was defeated by machine incumbent Anthony Williams in SD-8

  • Northampton County councilor Tara Zrinski’s race is too close to call in SD-14

  • Lancaster City Council president Izzy Smith-Wade-El won in HD-96

  • Lancaster activist Dana Hamp Gulick lost in HD-97

  • Chester environmental-justice activist Carol Kazeem won in HD-159

NORTH CAROLINA

Big money had better results in North Carolina, where the fossil-fueled Democratic Majority for Israel PAC helped Valerie Foushee defeat Nida Allam in the Fourth District race, and the anti-abortion Don Davis defeat Erica Smith in the First.

The Climate Cabinet slate did not have serious primary challenges, but face competitive elections in the fall.

It’s no coincidence that the crypto and oil billionaires are united against the Green New Deal. Both are seeking to burn down the planet for profit. Increasingly, Big Oil is directly involved in crypto, with bitcoin miners setting up shop at fracking sites in Pennsylvania, Texas, and North Dakota, cutting out the middleman of fossil-fueled electric utilities.

I had a great time at the Climate Cabinet happy hour last night. Every member of the team I spoke with—Caroline Spears, Frances Sawyer, Caroline Otto—was brilliant, committed, and thoughtful about their strategy to find and support key down-ballot opportunities for climate action.

I was also excited catch up with Progressive Multiplier president Phil Radford and to learn about the work that the White House Director for Sustainable Supply Chains Betty Cremmins (aka @climatebetty) is doing to implement Executive Order 14057. Department of Energy speechwriter Emma Hutchinson and I shared our mutual admiration of Climate Nexus guru Hunter Cutting, who sadly remains in California despite everything clearly being much more fun in Washington D.C. I didn’t press Emma for a preview of Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s speech at the Clean Power conference in San Antonio today, though.

There are nine different appropriations hearings on the FY2023 budget today. In addition, House Transportation is marking up the Water Resources Development Act, Congress, Senate Banking looks at energy-efficient and resilient housing, and the House Climate Crisis committee investigates building a sustainable food system that is resilient in the face of climate change.

Hearings on the Hill:

Climate Action Today:

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. DMs are open—@climatebrad

1 That $1 million probably came from LinkedIn billionaire Reid Hoffman, who is part of the creepy “effective altruism” community.

2 So each “effective altruism” vote for Flynn cost about $1,200 and each for Salinas cost about $100. And here I was thinking EAs cared about ROI.

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