Elect These Four Californians: Lois Capps, Heidi Hall, Mike Honda, Ted Lieu

This is an endorsement by Climate Hawks Vote, which I support.

Climate Hawks Vote is delighted to endorse in four California Congressional elections, joining our prior endorsement of Scott Peters (CA-52, San Diego). In order purely alphabetical, they're Lois Capps, Heidi Hall, Mike Honda, and Ted Lieu.

Lois Capps (CA-24, Santa Barbara) has earned our endorsement by being a tireless advocate for action on climate. She has the second-highest score among all Democrats in the House of Representatives on our scorecard measuring leadership. Her climate resilience ideas, in particular, have been adopted by the White House. We especially appreciate her passion in connecting the dots between climate change and two issues important to her constituents: public health and the Santa Barbara coastline.

Heidi Hall (CA-01, Redding and far northern California) says: “The greatest threat to our national security, public health and long-term economic growth is climate change.” The region is being hit hard by climate change - homes in Weed were recently lost to wildfire while Shasta Dam is shockingly barren. Yet her opponent, a first-term Republican of the tea party variety, denies basic climate science, voted to shut down the government, and flirts with the state of Jefferson. Heidi’s pragmatic approach includes keeping her district in the state of California. Imagine that.

Mike Honda (CA-17, Silicon Valley) has been a stalwart on climate change among other progressive causes. He’s authored a core bill, HR 4461, requiring climate change education - a happy contrast to those red states whose textbooks question science. And he’s tied a tech-savvy Smart Electronics bill to climate change. He’s spoken out for a carbon tax and against Republican efforts to gut the EPA. He’s being challenged by a technology mogul who promises to represent the businesses of Silicon Valley; but Mike represents something far more important, people. His leadership on climate is demonstrated by the fact that he’s among the top 10 members of Congress on our very tough leadership scorecard.

Ted Lieu (CA-33, coastal Los Angeles) is running in the seat held by the retiring Henry Waxman. In backyards and in living rooms throughout the South Bay and Westside of Los Angeles, Ted has promised to make climate change his top issue. He’s voiced opposition to export of coal to Asia. And he’s floated the idea of an AB32 (California’s landmark global warming law) at the national level. The debate Congress should be having - whether California’s exemplar leads the way or whether to embrace a cap-and-dividend or carbon tax - stands in stark contrast to the asinine “debates” being put forth by current House leadership. We expect great things from Ted.