Greens pour $1M into two House races

A major environmental group is putting $1 million into an effort to get Democrats elected to two House seats this year.

The effort from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Victory Fund announced Friday is opposing Rep. Cresent Hardy (R-Nev.) and Jason Lewis, who is running for an open seat in Minnesota.

{mosads}The bulk of environmental group spending on congressional races in this election cycle has focused on close Senate races, since Democrats have a good chance of getting a majority of the Senate’s seats and retaking control of the upper chamber.

But the LCV Victory Fund said it’s nonetheless important to try to beat Hardy and Lewis and to elect Democrats Ruben Kihuen in Nevada and Angie Craig in Minnesota.

“Lewis is the spitting image of a ‘mini-Trump’, and makes the same sorts of outlandish claims. Meanwhile, Hardy’s votes against environmental protections and climate change could not get any worse, with a rock-bottom 0 percent score,” the group’s national campaigns director Clay Schroers said in a statement, referring to LCV’s environmental scorecard for politicians.

“We’re ready to bring the fight against climate science denial and Big Polluters allies to the House, and are committed to defeating these two candidates,” he said.

LCV has added both candidates to its “Dirty Dozen” list of top election targets, joining Donald Trump and four Republican Senate candidates.