Hill Heat will be at Netroots Nation June 4 to 6 in Philadelphia. We’re co-sponsoring the Netroots Climate Happy Hour on Friday at 5 pm at City Tap House. Drop us a line if you’re coming to Netroots Nation!

In this post, we continue our look at the June Congressional climate primaries, starting with Tuesday, June 16th with the District of Columbia and the special-election primary for California’s 14th. The next week has Maryland, New York, and Utah. Colorado’s primaries are on the 30th. (Here’s our post on the first two weeks of June.)

June 16th

California’s 14th

Open (Swalwell)
Rating: Safe D

This is the seat that Rep. Eric Swalwell recently resigned, and there’s a special-election primary on June 16. State senator Aisha Wahab appears to be the frontrunner, having won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party and the Progressive Caucus. Eco Voters CA ran a direct mail campaign against Wahab for blocking a bill to compel fossil fuel polluters to pay for rising insurance costs last year. This year, she was conspicuously absent from the Senate Judiciary Committee vote, and from the negotiations that briefly convinced several corporate Democrats to let the bill advance this year. BART board member Melissa Hernandez is probably Wahab’s most formidable opponent. Hernandez is endorsed by many unions and by the New Democrats.

District of Columbia

Open (Norton)
Rating: It could not be safer D

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton will turn 89 the weekend before this primary, and is retiring after showing signs of rapid decline in office. D.C. Councilmember Robert White, who previously ran for mayor and had been considered the frontrunner for that race, is the obvious Green New Dealer favorite against the corporate-and-police-backed Brooke Pinto, a fellow councilmember, who is effectively the Republican in the race.

June 23rd

Maryland’s 5th

Open (Hoyer)
Rating: Safe D

The relentless party operator Steny Hoyer, who will turn 87 a week before the primary, has anointed his former campaign manager, State Del. Adrian Boafo, his preferred successor in the absurdly crowded field (22 Democratic candidates on the ballot, with nine running a serious campaign). Boafo was a lead co-sponsor of the Maryland Climate Superfund bill but is also a crypto-backed Oracle lobbyist. Millionaire businesswoman Quincy Bareebe is the top spender, while former U.S. Capitol police officer Harry Dunn has raised a national profile and is endorsed by the Working Families Party, but does not reside in the district. Prince George’s County Council Member Wala Blegay is the most viable climate progressive in the race, a former Bernie Sanders delegate endorsed by Our Revolution.

Maryland’s 6th

Incumbent: April McLean Delaney (D)
Rating: Safe D

Current Rep. April McLean Delaney and former Rep. David Trone are at it again, using their millions to beat each other up. Meanwhile, DOGEd Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staffer Alexis Goldstein is running a quixotic campaign as the principled choice.

New York’s 7th

Open (Velázquez)
Rating: Safe D

Rep. Nydia Velázquez objected to Mamdani siding with Assemblymember and labor organizer Claire Valdez for her congressional seat over her preferred candidate, Antonio Reynoso. Valdez has been endorsed by the Sunrise Movement.

New York’s 10th

Incumbent: Daniel Goldman (D)
Rating: Safe D

Climate hawk Brad Lander, the NYC Comptroller who ran for mayor and eventually made a ranked-choice-voting alliance with Mamdani to defeat Andrew Cuomo, would be a major improvement over incumbent Daniel Goldman. Lander has been endorsed by the Sunrise Movement and Mamdani. As comptroller, Lander challenged BlackRock, which manages $42 billion in NYC pension funds, for violating NYC’s fossil-fuel investment restrictions, but failed to achieve more than a sternly worded letter.

New York’s 13th

Incumbent: Adriano Espaillat (D)
Rating: Safe D

Democratic socialist and Sunrise ally Darializa Avila Chevalier has picked up Mamdani’s endorsement against Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the 71-year-old chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

New York’s 15th

Incumbent: Ritchie Torres (D)
Rating: Safe D

The soulless AIPAC automaton Ritchie Torres definitely deserves to lose, but the possibility is remote. Of his two remaining challengers, Dalourney Nemorin emphasizes a “Green New Deal for the Bronx.”

Utah’s 1st

Open (Moore)
Rating: Safe D flip

Utah’s First is now a safe Dem seat. Utah state Senator Nate Blouin is a clean energy champion backed by Bernie Sanders, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the local Sunrise chapter. Blouin has been leading the charge against a proposed hyperscale data center that would generate more fossil fuel pollution than the entire state of Utah. Blouin is one of several progressive challengers trying to prevent former Rep. Ben McAdams, a New Democrat who lost re-election in 2020, from winning back his former seat. In a recent call for progressive consolidation to stop McAdams from returning to Congress, Blouin highlighted how McAdams “voted against abortion rights and against the PRO Act during his time in Congress, and was ranked the most conservative Democrat in the House.”

June 30th

Colorado Senate

Incumbent: John Hickenlooper (D)
Rating: Safe D

Colorado state senator Julie Gonzales would be a tremendous improvement over the Frackenlooper, but Hick is expected to sail through. We’re not sure his pro-crypto votes and blocking of a climate hawk to be a top Biden financial regulator are as salient as we would like them to be! Hick's first Senate chief of staff was a Robinhood lobbyist, and his current chief of staff was previously Joe Manchin’s. Maybe Hick failing to save the National Center for Atmospheric Research is galvanizing to Colorado voters in a way that voting for the GENIUS Act isn’t? Despite the long odds, Gonzales has a solid base and is well-liked among her constituency of Denver progressives, so it might be a decent test case of just how much dynamics have shifted since 2020, when Hickenlooper got Elizabeth Warren to rally around him in his primary.

Colorado’s 1st

Incumbent: Diane DeGette
Rating: Safe D

Justice Democrats and Sunrise Denver have endorsed Melat Kiros, a young corporate lawyer fired for her support for Palestinian rights, over incumbent Diana DeGette.

Colorado’s 8th

Incumbent: Gabe Evans (R)
Rating: Toss-up

JanePAC is backing state Rep. Manny Rutinel, a former climate and animal-rights activist, against the corporate-aligned Shannon Bird, who resigned from the Colorado legislature to run.