Clean energy super PAC looks to take down a Democratic governor

The troubled reelection campaign of Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee is facing a new obstacle: a super PAC determined to take down foes of clean energy.

The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition has declared McKee its first Democratic target, following campaigns against three Republican primary candidates, all of whom lost their races. The political action committee announced this week that it is spending $500,000 to air ads opposing McKee in advance of the Sept. 9 Democratic primary. The campaign will be run by the state-level political action committee Invest in America’s Future.

McKee has repeatedly linked rising utility bills to clean energy. His budget proposal this spring included measures that would have delayed the state’s transition to 100% renewable energy by nearly two decades and slashed energy-efficiency spending by more than 20%. State lawmakers in June blocked these efforts, but a few weeks later McKee vetoed legislation that would have required owners of large buildings to track and report their energy use.

“We are on a mission to ensure that there are consequences for politicians in both parties who scapegoat renewable energy for their own failures,” said Invest in America’s Future spokesperson Chris Coffey. ​“McKee might believe that blaming clean energy is a convenient way to deflect responsibility for Rhode Island’s affordability crisis, but by the time primary day comes around, we will ensure that every single Rhode Islander knows exactly where the buck stops.”

McKee’s chances at keeping his seat were already shaky, with a recent poll putting him 38 percentage points behind his primary challenger, former CVS executive Helena Foulkes. His lack of support has largely been attributed to the hasty closure in 2023 of the Washington Bridge, a major span in the tiny state, and the long delay before rebuilding began.

Invest in Tomorrow, however, wants its involvement to send a message: Oppose clean energy and we will do everything we can to oppose you.

Invest in Tomorrow was founded after the Trump administration — with the help of congressional Republicans — unraveled clean-energy incentives created by the Inflation Reduction Act. Its goal is to threaten clean energy opponents with the kind of electoral consequences long wielded by the gun lobby and oil interests.

The group’s first three targets were all congressional Republicans: Rep. Chip Roy, who was running for state attorney general in Texas; Rep. Andy Ogles, who was seeking reelection in Tennessee; and Rep. Ralph Norman, whom ITC targeted in his bid for South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nomination in June and then again in the recent race for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s seat. All three lost their races.

The ads ITC pays for generally do not reflect the group’s focus on climate and clean energy issues. Instead, it deploys messages it thinks will be most effective against an individual candidate. Ads opposing Roy painted him as insufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump, for example. The spots running against McKee accuse him of mismanaging the Washington Bridge closure and of doing financial favors for his donors.

McKee is not the only Democratic governor to consider tempering climate commitments in the face of high prices and anxious constituents. Most prominently, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has rolled back the state’s once-ambitious emissions-reduction goals.

McKee, however, has been perhaps the most pugnacious on the topic. He declared in July that anyone who argues against his proposals wants residents to have higher bills and is ​“advocating for their own personal self-interests.”

“If you wanted to take an action to show the Democratic governors that they need to get in line on the issue of climate, McKee is a good choice,” said Christian Roselund, a leader with nonprofit advocacy group Climate Action Rhode Island. ​“I’ve been trying to find a Democratic governor with a worse record on the climate than Dan McKee, and I’m not sure there is one.”