Climate won the Michigan midterms. Voters reelected environmental champions Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Not only that, voters put a pro-environment majority in control of the state Legislature.
We have a generational opportunity to enact polluter-pay legislation, Great Lakes protections and real investment in renewable energy. Sign up to meet with your legislators in-district to get working on putting our environmental agenda into action in 2023!
Our success did not happen by luck or chance. Our environmental candidates faced powerful fossil fuel-funded opponents who used our Sierra Club endorsement to attack them. However, we fought back and Michiganders didn’t believe the unfounded attacks against our champions. Voters supported candidates who will protect our Great Lakes and communities in spite of millions spent to defeat them.
Sierra Club interns, volunteers and staff talked to thousands of voters to lock down the environmental vote. However, our work done in previous years to support pro-democracy reforms mattered too! This was the first election to use the newly drawn district maps created by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Our state has been making voting easier and our districts fairer and as a result, our democracy is stronger.
We look forward to continuing our work with the first Governor to ever order the shutdown of an existing oil pipeline, our amazing Attorney General, a Secretary of State protecting our Democracy and the new environmental majorities in the House and Senate.