A leading progressive climate group is planning to spend at least $50 million on the 2026 midterms — a boost to Democrats looking to retake both chambers of Congress.
The LCV Victory Fund, the super PAC affiliated with the League of Conservation Voters, is targeting House Republican candidates in five battleground districts, with plans to expand that list heading into the fall, and will be boosting former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina and former Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio in their respective Senate bids. It will also spend on gubernatorial and state legislative races in Michigan, Nevada and Georgia — a trio of states with competitive down-ballot races.
The details of LCV Victory Fund were shared first with NOTUS.
The spending will go toward advertising, field programs and work with content creators. LCV Victory Fund is particularly targeting voters who feel the affordability pinch — voters who are more likely to be women, Black or Latino, noncollege educated and less politically engaged, said Sara Schreiber, LCV Victory Fund’s senior vice president of campaigns.
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“A key part of the electorate is affected by this affordability crisis, and they are really looking for candidates who have plans and are creating solutions that will keep costs low,” Schreiber said in an interview with NOTUS. “These are the folks that you need to win in a midterm, and they’re going to be critical in 2026.”
The eight-figure pledge is “on par” with previous midterm campaigns from the group, Schreiber said. During the 2022 cycle, LCV Victory Fund spent more than $40 million on independent expenditures and contributions to candidates.
LCV Victory Fund’s pledge comes as Democrats face a widening gap in fundraising between Democratic-aligned entities and Republican-backed groups. Some Democrats are concerned about the party’s ability to keep up with Republican spending in vital races. The Democratic National Committee, for example, remains in debt, while the Republican National Committee has built a $120 million war chest.
LCV Victory Fund’s ads — some of which started running earlier this month — drill Republicans on rising utility costs, complimenting House Democrats’ larger focus on affordability. In Michigan, LCV Victory Fund is out with a new ad attacking Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga for “votes to cut our clean energy supply” that “made our utility rates go up.”
Public polling suggests those attack lines could be effective, particularly around rising energy costs. Nearly two-thirds of voters said President Donald Trump’s policies have “worsened” economic conditions in the country in a CNN poll released this week. Nearly eight in 10 voters said the Trump administration is not focused enough on lowering prices in a recent CBS News poll.
LCV President Pete Maysmith called energy costs a “potent issue” for voters, one that already had success for Democrats in off-year victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections.
“It’s the central message because Republicans have broken trust with voters,” Maysmith said. “They’re causing real pain in people’s pocketbooks, and that shows up both in their utility bills, which are up 18% since Trump took office, when he pledged to cut them in half.”
A handful of 2026 candidates are already leaning into utility cost messaging in their own ads.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is running for governor, touted his record of suing “big utilities and drug companies to lower costs” in his first TV ad. In Pennsylvania, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who is challenging Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, hit data centers for “raising our electric bills” in her ad.
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