By Karen Becker • Political Committee Chair, political.chair@newjersey.sierraclub.org
Each year there is an important race that catches our attention. In 2022 we voted for our federal (congressional) candidates to serve in the House. This year, all 120 members of the NJ Legislature will appear on the ballot in their respective districts. New Jersey has 40 districts, each comprised of one state senator and two assemblypersons. We will begin looking at candidates who most closely align with Sierra Club values and consider endorsing their campaigns.
Our attention immediately turns to three state senators who have been strong leaders for the environment and have demonstrated their commitment through legislation that they have sponsored or supported. Sens. Bob Smith (NJ-17), Linda Greenstein (NJ-14), and Andrew Zwicker (NJ-16) have each received an early endorsement from the Sierra Club. Here’s why:
Smith and Greenstein, as chair and vice chair of the Senate Environment and Energy Commission, respectively, have sponsored numerous bills designed to protect our drinking water, regulate plastic in products, and divest state pension and annuity funds from fossil fuel companies. Together they have led the state toward tackling these and many other environmental issues. Most recently, Greenstein took a hard stand on implementing the Inland Flood Protection Rule, which would raise the “design flood elevation”—the minimum level of the habitable first floor of a new building in nontidal areas—by 2 feet from existing DEP flood maps, and by 3 feet from maps drawn by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Zwicker, a leading physicist at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, has been an advocate of fusion energy, giving numerous talks and lectures on the subject. Zwicker’s advocacy for fusion energy moves us further away from fossil fuel dependency and closer to having zero-carbon fusion energy powering our society.
We hope you will consider voting for Sierra Club–endorsed candidates. You must be registered to vote by May 16 to vote in the June 6 primary.
A press release announcing the endorsements was issued February 3 and can be read in full here.