Green energy PAC targets Republican House candidates deep in Trump country
by George Caldwell · The Washington TimesA pro-green energy PAC has released its list of Republicans it wants to punish for favoring policies that hurt the industry.
Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC announced Thursday its plans to spend $15 million targeting seven Republican House candidates.
“When we’re done here, we will have fundamentally reshaped the electoral incentives of congressional energy politics and sent a very clear message to our would-be opponents: No matter how safe you think your seat is, if you politicize our industry, we will come for you, and we will win,” Tom Matzzie, the PAC’s chair, told The New York Times.
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Many of the candidates are conservatives who pushed for the repeal of Biden-era green energy subsidies using their leverage in the House GOP’s narrow majority.
The targeted Republicans include Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Victoria Spartz of Indiana.
The PAC is also seeking to prevent firebrand Republican candidates such as Brandon Herrera of Texas and Mike Beltran of Florida from entering Congress.
Both congressional hopefuls are backed by the House Freedom Caucus Fund, which supports fiscally hawkish, hardline conservatives.
It is not the first time the two PACs have clashed.
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ITC invested heavily in opposing the candidacies of Ralph Norman for Senate in South Carolina and Chip Roy for attorney general in Texas, as well as Rep. Andy Ogles’ reelection bid in Tennessee.
All of the candidates lost in Republican primaries after ITC ran ads against them. The group typically does not run ads that explicitly reference energy issues.
ITC’s top funder is Chris Larsen, a San Francisco tech investor and political donor who gives almost exclusively to Democrats.
The group is mostly going after Republicans in heavily conservative districts such as Mr. Herrera’s, which his Republican predecessor won by 25 points.
Ms. Boebert won in her district by over 10 points in 2024, and Ms. Spartz won hers by almost 20 points.
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Mr. Perry, on the other hand, won his seat by just over one point in the last election and has a rematch with the same opponent in November, making his race one of the most closely watched of the midterms.
Mr. Beltran is running in Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor’s district, which has been redrawn to be competitive for Republicans.
ITC says it is not partisan. In recent primaries, the group opposed Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee and supported Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa Republican.
Allison Weisenberger, executive director of the Freedom Caucus Fund, told The Washington Times: “The House Freedom Caucus is the reason the taxpayer-funded Green New Scam is dead and the left-wing Democrats funding these attacks want the gravy train started up again to fill up their pockets. … They want Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker to get the taxpayer money flowing again, so they can rip off American taxpayers and energy consumers again.”
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George Caldwell
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