Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
The environmental community is set to break its own election spending records defending the IRA.
Why it matters: Debates about selling the law to voters — and how many times the word "climate" is mentioned on the stump — have overshadowed the fact that the climate movement is now a permanent fixture of Democratic politics.
- "When I got to Congress [in 2009], it was not implicit, in either the House or the Senate, that climate was central to the Democratic brand," Sen. Martin Heinrich told Axios. "Now that is very much the case."
By the numbers: LCV Victory Fund and its affiliates said they plan to spend a record $120 million on the election.
- The group had reported raising more than $44 million as of July 31, making it the ninth-largest super PAC by fundraising this election cycle, per data compiled by OpenSecrets.
- In 2020, it tallied $42.3 million in independent expenditures, putting it in a league with the Lincoln Project and Americans For Prosperity Action.
- Meanwhile, EDF Action Votes beat its own record in July by raising $5.6 million.
Zoom in: Since the failure of Waxman-Markey and Democrats' subsequent 2010 midterm disaster, environmental groups have become some of the party's most important outside spenders.
- During the DNC, several environmental super PACs announced a $55 million ad buy for Kamala Harris.
- "It's far and away the most that the climate community has ever done in terms of an ad campaign in a presidential race," said Pete Maysmith, senior vice president of campaigns for LCV Victory Fund.
Between the lines: The new ads pick an economic theme — standing up to corporations, inflation, and the middle class — and connect them to alleged oil price gouging and "clean" energy.
- "The best thing that we can possibly do as environmental advocates with electoral money is to make sure [Donald Trump] doesn't go to the White House," said Jack Pratt, president of EDF Action Votes.
- "To do that, you have to meet voters where they are."
- Democrats running in battleground districts, particularly in New York and California, are also more likely than they were in the past to ally themselves with environmentalists once they get to Congress, Pratt said.
Yes, but: There are plenty of questions about whether this strategy will actually work amid Trump's threats to rescind the climate law.
- Voters remain unaware of the IRA, and Harris' backtracking on fracking suggests she's trying to strike a balance in Pennsylvania and other swing states.
- "Certainly, the progressive environmental groups weighed in heavily on Joe Biden to make this his signature issue," said Emily Domenech, a former top GOP aide now with Boundary Stone Partners. "But I am skeptical about their ability to effectively defend it."
