New York’s congressional primaries Tuesday featured some of the most watched races of the midterms, and many had major implications for energy and environmental policy.
Two incumbent Democrats were unseated by progressive challengers, while a handful of major open races were decided. The contests could help decide the balance of power in Washington come January.
Here are some New York House races to watch:
3rd District
In Long Island’s 3rd District, former state lawmaker Mike LiPetri easily won the Republican primary to take on Rep. Tom Suozzi (D). It’ll be a rematch of the 2024 race.
LiPetri’s record and positions make him more centrist than much of the GOP. He said at a candidates’ forum ahead of the 2024 race that he is a former canvasser for the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, a Long Island-based environmental group.
“We do need wind, we do need solar, we do need batteries, alongside natural gas,” LiPetri said at the forum, cheering decreases in the costs of solar energy and endorsing a transition toward more renewables.
He focused on clean water issues in the New York State Assembly, including fighting PFAS pollution, and co-chaired the Republicans’ Statewide Water Quality Task Force.
Suozzi is favored to win the race, with the Cook Political Report rating it “Lean Democratic.”
12th District
The reliably Democratic and politically engaged constituency of the 12th District, in midtown Manhattan, meant that environmental matters were a frequent point of discussion at forums and debates, though the major candidates had little disagreement.
Micah Lasher, a state lawmaker and former aide to retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D), came out on top in the crowded field hoping to succeed Nadler. Other hopefuls included state Sen. Alex Bores; Jack Schlossberg, grandson of late President John F. Kennedy; and attorney George Conway.
Lasher boasted at a New York League of Conservation Voters forum about his environmental work at various positions, including working on lawsuits against Exxon Mobil and Peabody Energy when he worked for then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
He called for a restoration of the clean energy tax credits rolled back last year, rejoining the Paris Agreement and ending fossil fuel subsidies.
“We absolutely must invest in a clean energy transition for this country. It’s what we need for our economy. It’s what we need for our future,” he said at the forum.
Bores emerged in the race as a loud voice for regulating the artificial intelligence industry, including with proposals to incentivize data centers to use clean energy.
17th District
The 17th District race could turn on arguments over the future of a major closed nuclear power plant.
Indian Point Energy Center, which is in the district, shut down in 2021 under pressure from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). Incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler (R) wants to reopen it, but Cait Conley, an Army veteran who won the Democratic primary to take on Lawler, disagrees.
Lawler brought Energy Secretary Chris Wright to the plant in March to advocate for it to reopen, saying it would ease utility bill pressures and help the electric grid.
“It is time to actually fix the broken energy policies of this state,” Lawler said. “An all-of-the-above approach actually includes ‘all of the above.’ And nuclear power is part of the solution … This facility could generate the power that is needed for New York.”
Conley argues that the state needs more power but that Indian Point is not the answer. She wrote on her website that she supports “increasing our energy supply, not by spending years trying to reopen the broken and decrepit Indian Point, but by investing in energy projects that utilize the Hudson Valley’s natural resources, like wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal energy, that can help lower energy bills today.”
19th District
Incumbent Rep. Josh Riley (D) has sought to get out in front of rising electricity bills. He launched the Congressional Lowering Utility Bills Caucus with other Democrats in January, and introduced the Lowering Utility Bills Act, which would restrict the costs that electric utilities can get recouped in customer rates.
“We have to change the system. … There is an immediate need right now for folks to be able to survive from one day to the next,” Riley said in May after introducing the legislation with Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas). “People cannot afford to wait for this place to get its act together.”
Republicans accuse Riley of contributing to the problem. The National Republican Congressional Committee has sought to connect him to supporters of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which sets high carbon reduction standards for the state and, opponents say, has led to higher electricity costs.
“Riley claiming that he’s fighting for upstate New Yorkers is as laughable as it is false,” NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole said in January.
State Sen. Peter Oberacker easily won the GOP primary for the district. He has recently fought against solar energy in rural areas, including a proposal to allow solar installations on some state-owned land and floating solar on some bodies of water.
“Albany bureaucrats should NOT have the power to override our towns, our communities, and our local voices,” Oberacker wrote on X recently, criticizing the state’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission, which works to streamline permitting.
“Rural New York deserves a seat at the table when intrusive and ugly solar projects are proposed in our communities,” he said.
22nd District
Oberacker isn’t the only Republican challenger running against New York’s renewable energy policies.
Kailee Buller, a former Department of Agriculture official in the Trump administration, is promising to protect rural areas from wind and solar development, which has been a USDA priority under Secretary Brooke Rollins.
“Wondering why your energy bills are up over $4,000 annually this year,” she said in a recent video standing at the site of a planned wind farm. The figure comes from a state estimate published this year of potential impacts from New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in the next decade.
“Democrats in New York are putting their pet projects over our pocketbooks. No more,” she said. “Let’s vote New York Democrats out of office this November, repeal the climate law, stop these windmills and lower energy costs.”
In a statement, Buller said she’d push in Congress for laws to override the state’s climate law, fast-track nuclear power and reform permitting for infrastructure like natural gas pipelines.
She’s the GOP nominee to run against Rep. John Mannion (D), who flipped the 22nd District seat from Republican control. But redistricting ahead of the 2024 election made the seat reliably Democratic, and Mannion is heavily favored to win again.
