How You Can Make a Difference in This Year’s Elections!

by Mia DiFelice

With election season in full swing, you may be feeling anxious about what’s at stake in November. You’re not alone. But we also know that elections are a powerful tool for us to shape the systems that shape our lives.

While corporations will spend big to influence races, we can gather the people power to fight them. Ultimately, our votes decide who’s in office, and by working together, we can ensure we have leaders who fight for us and what we care about. We need to elect allies to Congress who will push both their own leadership and the White House to take strong positions and enact the policies we know we need.

Last month, Food & Water Action members joined us to meet some of these allies at our March Livable Future LIVE event, “Our Climate and Democracy Are at Stake: How We’ll Win the 2024 Election.”

During the event, we sat down with our Political Director Mitch Jones to speak with candidates we’ve endorsed, outline our strategy to help them reach Congress, and explain how you can get involved!

Climate Champions Will Defend a Healthy, Bright Future for All of Us

As a medical doctor and professor of public health, Dr. Clarence Lam has seen firsthand the toll of climate change and pollution in Maryland. “I see that the climate crisis that we’re facing is also really a public health crisis, especially for marginalized communities,” he told us. For example, an incinerator in downtown Baltimore burdens its majority-Black, low-income neighbors with noxious air pollution.

For the past nine years, Clarence has served as a State Senator, fighting for policies to protect Marylanders. He joined our successful fight to ban fracking statewide. He’s gone after corporations like poultry factory farms in the Eastern Shore, helping to clean up air and water pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. 

Now, Food & Water Action is thrilled to endorse him in his race for Congress. He will continue bringing science to policy, fighting climate scams like carbon capture and storage, and defending our health and our futures.

“We’re really at a tipping point,” Clarence emphasized. “This is our window of opportunity to make lasting change and make sure that we’re on the right path to ensure a healthy, bright future for all of us.”

Luckily, we have candidates all over the country just like Clarence, who are dedicated to protecting what matters most — clean air, water, and food; a fair economy that puts people over profits; and a healthy environment we can all thrive in. 

Food & Water Action Is Electing Climate Champions Nationwide

We’re proud to endorse candidates like Clarence and like State Representative Laura Friedman, who has fought to protect Californians from climate change and chemical pollution. We’re also fighting for incumbents like Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, lead sponsor of the landmark WATER Act, which would dedicate the needed funds to fix our country’s failing water infrastructure.

We’ve carefully selected our endorsed candidates because we believe in what they do. We also know that many of them are running in nail-biter races that could have huge ripple effects in their region and across the country.

As Mitch explained, “A lot of elections are ones at the margins, and here at Food & Water Action, we’re pretty good at identifying where we can make a real difference in those margins.”

In purple Pennsylvania, we’re endorsing Chris Deluzio, whose race may make or break the Democratic majority in the House. A win for Deluzio won’t just help defend that majority — it will mean families, like those in his district who’ve been impacted by the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, will have someone fighting in their corner. A win for Deluzio would keep a climate champion in the heart of fracking country and add even more momentum to the movement of pro-environment progressives sweeping through the region.

So How Do We Get There?

Food & Water Action doesn’t just have the strategy. We have the volunteers and the experience to put that strategy into practice — and win. We’ve spent years building capacity in key regions across the country. We work with folks just like you who are determined to make sure as many voters as possible hear from us, know what’s at stake, and are moved to cast their vote.

When it comes to countering big spending from corporate interests, we know the only antidote is people power. With corporate propaganda and attack ads flooding the airwaves, going door-to-door and making face-to-face connections break through the noise.

As Laura said, “It’s this kind of grassroots support that gets our message out. And you know what? When people out there hear about what we’re trying to do, they respond… It’s how we, who are just ordinary people, win and take back our planet and our country.” 

There’s a lot at stake this fall, and it can feel overwhelming. But there’s a lot to be excited and hopeful for. Elections are first and foremost opportunities — opportunities to elect candidates who are accountable to us; who will push for stronger policies to end fossil fuels, break up Big Ag, and protect our water. With your help, we’re seizing this opportunity and helping to elect the leaders we need.

Resources Shared at the Event

• Donate now to help us elect climate champions and your gift will be matched — DOUBLING your impact!
• Learn more about our strategy for 2024 in our recent article, “Blueprint for Victory: How We Protect the Planet at the Polls.”
• Check out our full list of endorsed candidates.
• First time volunteering with Food & Water Action? Join our next monthly orientation!
• Sign up to join our election call team and make calls to voters.
• Join our pledge team and get candidates in your community to take the Pledge to End Fossil Fuels.

Time to face it~it’s people or plastics.~We can’t have both.

Become a plastic pollution fighter this Earth~Day and have your gift MATCHED $3-to-$1!

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