Money from renewable energy executives helped defeat conservative Rep. Chip Roy’s campaign for Texas attorney general — and now those donors are planning to deploy more cash against foes of wind and solar.
A political action committee called the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition — which spent $1.7 million against Roy (R) to avenge his relentless push for ending renewable energy tax incentives — says supporters have pledged at least $15 million ahead of the midterm elections.
The effort is emblematic of an industry hobbled by President Donald Trump’s Washington looking to fight back when it had once tried to seek broad support. And strategists and executives say the debate is ripe for more big spending.
“The industry can’t waste another moment in building political power and understanding how to play hardball, how to instill fear, so that anyone who thinks of crossing them when it comes to an important vote thinks twice and knows that there will be political repercussions if they do,” said Chris Moyer, a Democratic strategist who leads clean energy-focused Echo Communications Advisors.
Renewable energy has suffered a series of major political setbacks under unified Republican control of Washington. The president has moved to slow or restrict wind and solar permitting. And the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year phased out tax incentives the industry had long relied on.
“The goal here is, at the end of this election year, members of Congress, senators, governors, others, remember that if you act viciously against the industry, that there could be a couple million dollars dropped into your next race, and that could threaten your political future,” said Tom Matzzie, CEO of solar company CleanChoice Energy and executive chair of the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition political action committee.
Matzzie has been drawing on his previous work as the Washington director for MoveOn.org, the progressive political advocacy group. He has given $50,000 to the PAC.
The anti-Roy campaign targeted conservative audiences on platforms that appeal to them — like Truth Social and Rumble — with messaging arguing the congressman wasn’t aligned with Trump’s agenda. It did not mention clean energy at all.
Roy lost a Republican primary to Texas state Sen. Mayes Middleton, who promised to be more helpful to Trump. Roy’s independent streak often got on the president’s nerves. Trump did not endorse in the race.
Peter Davidson, CEO of Aligned Climate Capital, a clean energy investment firm, pointed to Roy and other members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus for being hostile to renewable energy development.
“Not only did he and the Freedom Caucus have the whole rewind and sunsetting of the [tax credits] for solar and wind … but the whole demonization of the industry, the whole language of the ‘Green New Scam’ — all that came from the Freedom Caucus, and that came from Chip Roy,” said Davidson, who launched the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC and donated $26,500, records show.
The biggest donor so far has been Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, a cryptocurrency company, who has given $1 million. Larsen compared his backing of renewable energy to his support for crypto.
“I just was always perplexed — the climate groups, why aren’t they fighting harder?” Larsen said during an event in May, boasting how a pro-crypto PAC called Fairshake ousted most of the candidates it targeted, including former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
“It was a very simple bipartisan effort to punish your opponents and reward folks that are supporting what you’re trying to do,” Larsen said. “So let’s come to climate now. Why wouldn’t we do the same thing there?”
Roy criticized the renewable spending against him on social media and vowed to double down against federal investments in wind and solar. “Happy to do it. Will do it again. And again. I’m just getting started,” Roy wrote on X after losing.
He also downplayed the donors’ impact. “They had zero impact … and [happily] burned their money in a campaign where my opponent bought the election with $30 million,” Roy said in a statement.
Indeed, Invest in Tomorrow Coalition’s $1.7 million pales in comparison to the $24.7 million Middleton’s campaign spent and the $12 million Roy’s campaign spent in the attorney general primary.
“Seeing Chip Roy out of Congress is a big victory for the clean energy industry,” said Matzzie. “I think we played a small but meaningful part of it.”
The fight ahead
Renewable energy donors wasted little time after Roy’s loss elevating their work. The PAC launched a new advertising campaign telling lawmakers “Don’t Mess With Solar” — with billboards in Washington, at train stations and at airports.
The group is also considering spending in primaries against Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), but has not made any decisions. Each politician is running to be their state’s governor and opposes clean energy incentives.
In a sign of its bipartisan orientation, the PAC has spent at least $125,000 backing Republican Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who faced an unsuccessful primary challenge this week from businessman David Pautsch but still has a tough battle for reelection.
Miller-Meeks, chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus, voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but she also worked to prevent a harsher end to the wind and solar credits.
“She has been a consistent and real ally of the industry in a variety of different ways, visits solar farms in her district, supports the industry,” Matzzie said. “So it was a very important contrast, I thought, to demonstrate the week after contributing to the defeated Chip Roy, that we’ll also support a Republican.”
Davidson said the first part of the group’s campaign was punitive action, but said it will be looking to spend to support clean-energy champions in battleground general elections.
“I think we realize, unfortunately, that in Trump’s America, to a certain degree, if you want something done politically, you have to get political respect,” he said. “And political respect means you have to be able to take out candidates that oppose your agenda.”
‘Put our money where our mouth is’
The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition owes its existence to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling and similar decisions, which allowed so-called super PACs to raise and spend unlimited money in elections, as long as it’s not in coordination with candidates.
“The era of writing checks to candidates became less relevant after Citizens United. Industries have to now adapt to this new world. That’s one of our contributions we’re trying to bring,” Matzzie said. “So if we have anything to do with it, industry will be a contributor to big time politics.”
Many corporations and trade associations have their own PACs, but they can only accept up to $5,000 from each donor per year and contribute $5,000 to each candidate per election.
PACs connected to industry trade groups like the Solar Energy Industries Association and the American Clean Power Association usually donate similar amounts to candidates in both parties.
Stephanie Bosh, SEIA’s senior vice president of communications, said in a statement that energy affordability is on the ballot this year. “So we’re seeing an increased appetite to get involved and support a bipartisan slate of candidates that recognize the critical role solar and storage play in America’s energy future,” she said.
SEIA recently announced that former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) would become the group’s CEO. ACP, which is also active in pushing back on the administration and lobbying lawmakers, did not respond to a request for comment.
Steve McBee, CEO of Huck Capital, a firm focusing on sustainable energy, is making political advocacy central to Amped, a new organization he launched last month to take a multipronged approach to promote clean energy among consumers and politicians.
“We got to get more political money in the system. Because I spent a lot of time in Washington. Washington has always been very transactional,” McBee said in a podcast interview.
“We’re not playing that game at all,” he said. “Those are things that aren’t being meaningfully done in any kind of aggressive, disruptive or intentional way.”
Jon Powers, president of CleanCapital, an investment firm, said the industry needs to make more of a name for itself both in political campaigns and in the policy arena. Powers hasn’t donated to the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC but has contributed to Democratic political candidates.
“We have to put our money where our mouth is. So we have to be able to support and fund candidates that are supportive of our issues — both at the national midterm level, but also really, truly at the state level, because a lot of this is going to happen at the state level in terms of activity next year,” he said.
