Who Defected on the US House Climate Change Legislation?

The U.S. House of Representative’s 219-212 vote last week in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454) passed in part due to the defection of a handful of Republicans, while more than half of the Blue Dog Democratic coalition voted in opposition to the bill.

Eight Republicans in total voted for the climate change legislation – seven of which hail from districts carried by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race, by an average of 11.7 points.

GOP Defectors in Support of Climate Change Bill HR 2454

Forty-four Democrats voted against the measure (along with 168 Republicans), including 29 Blue Dog Democrats. Among those Blue Dogs voting ‘no’ were At-large Representatives Stephanie Herseth Sandlin from South Dakota and Earl Pomeroy from North Dakota.

While a majority of the Blue Dogs voted against the legislation, 23 representatives in the 52-member coalition supported it, including Minnesota’s Collin Peterson (MN-07) and Iowa’s Leonard Boswell (IA-03). The entire Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin congressional delegations voted along party lines.

Nearly twice as many Democrats who voted against the climate change bill represent districts carried by John McCain in 2008 presidential election (29) than those who represent districts carried by Obama (15). McCain carried these 29 districts by an average of 15.3 points.

Seven of the Democratic defectors won pick-up seats in the 2008 Election, and five of these are also Blue Dogs – Bobby Bright (AL-02), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01), Walt Minnick (ID-01), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03), and Glenn Nye (VA-02).

Some Democratic opposition to the climate change legislation did come from the more liberal wing of the Party in the House, such as Peter Visclosky (IN-01) and Dennis Kucinich (OH-10). Kucinich argued that the bill did not go far enough – setting weak targets, giving record subsidies to the coal industry, and building an overarching framework for failure.

Democratic Defectors in Opposition to Climate Change Bill HR 2454

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