Pro-Environment Candidates Win Big in N.C. Races

With environmentalists across the United States still reeling over the re-election of President George W. Bush, let’s take a moment to focus on some good news from the environmental politics front.

Here in North Carolina, U.S. Reps. Brad Miller and David Price, Democratic incumbents who represent Raleigh and Chapel Hill respectively, handily won their re-election campaigns. Both men have strong pro-environment voting records and ran with the endorsement of the N.C. Sierra Club.

In fact, the environmental news from Washington is hardly all bad: Out of the eight congressional races targeted as priorities by the League of Conservation Voters, the only loss was here in North Carolina, where Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Burr beat Democrat Erskine Bowles for the seat vacated by Sen. John Edwards. In fact, 90 percent of the candidates endorsed by the LCV won.

Unfortunately, North Carolina voters approved the environmentally problematic Amendment One by a narrow margin, but there’s plenty of good news from the Tarheel State, too. Winning re-election were Gov. Mike Easley and Attorney General Roy Cooper, Democrats who had the backing of both the Sierra Club and the Conservation Council of North Carolina’s PAC. Though the final result is still pending, it appears that Agriculture Commissioner Britt Cobb, a Democrat who had C-PAC’s backing, has edged out Republican challenger Steve Troxler by a few hundred votes.

In addition, Democrats strengthened their control over the state legislature with the election of a number of strong pro-environment candidates. Here in Raleigh, retiring Democratic state Sen. Eric Reeves has been replaced by fellow Democrat Janet Cowell, a former Sierra Club leader with a progressive record on the environment as a Raleigh City Council member. Cowell will be in an excellent position to hit the ground running, having staffed the environmental caucus during the latest legislative session.

In other key Raleigh areas races, Democrat Grier Martin ousted incumbent Republican Don Munford in House District 34, and Democrat Linda Coleman beat incumbent Republican Sam Ellis in House District 39. C-PAC had criticized Munford’s and Ellis’ environmental records as “irresponsible” and praised Martin and Coleman as “champions” for the environment.

They’ll join incumbent Triangle Democrats Vernon Malone of Senate District 14, Jennifer Weiss of House District 35 and Deborah Ross of House District 38. Ross and Weiss racked up perfect environmental voting records for the latest legislative session on C-PAC’s annual legislative report card, and Malone also had the backing of the group.

In fact, out of the 82 state legislative candidates C-PAC endorsed, 77 won.

Not bad. Not bad at all.