Greens launch ad against Illinois GOP senator

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) launched an advertising campaign Friday against Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is running for reelection.

The LCV is spending $50,000 to run the digital video ad shaming Kirk for a vote last week against the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate rule for power plants.

{mosads}Kirk is one of the most vulnerable Republican senators running in 2016, and Democrats and their allies are eyeing the seat as one of the most likely to switch parties.

The ad says Kirk “stands with polluters, not Illinois” and that he voted against “our health and environment.”

The video only encourages viewers to “tell Sen. Kirk ‘your vote was wrong'” and does not count legally as a campaign advertisement since it does not instruct viewers to vote against him.

“Sen. Mark Kirk has unfortunately made it very clear in the last few weeks that he is in Congress to serve big polluters, not the people of Illinois,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said in a statement.

“It has been a real disappointment to see Sen. Kirk’s once strong environmental record plummet in recent years,” he continued.

For the LCV and other environmental groups, Kirk’s vote was extremely disappointing and amounted to him turning his back on them. Kirk is a moderate Republican and previously supported environmental causes like cutting carbon pollution and stopping drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Greens are also using their resources and clout to protect the Obama administration’s signature climate rule and have identified it as a top priority for the 2016 election.