Food Policy Action Announces 2016 Endorsements; Endorses Clinton-Kaine Presidential Ticket

Details

Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Wednesday, 05 October 2016 07:45

Written by Contributing Editor

Today, Food Policy Action, an organization dedicated to educating the public about the votes their elected leaders take on critically important food issues, endorsed candidates in twelve of the most competitive Congressional races in the country as well as in the Presidential race.

 
For the first time, FPA is weighing in on the most important political race in the country and supporting Hillary Clinton for President.
 
FPA endorses Hillary Clinton for her strong record supporting good food policies including maintaining a strong safety net for America's most vulnerable, promoting water and land conservation and sustainable farming, increasing access to healthy food, upholding strong worker rights and fair wages, funding enhanced food safety inspections, and providing more consumer transparency.

Unlike Secretary Clinton, Donald Trump has been on the record in support of food policies that would be harmful to our food system – specifically, his opposition to consumer transparency, his objections to vital safety net programs for America's seniors and families, and his uninformed plan to dissolve the FDA.
 
"The Clinton-Kaine ticket is the better choice to make our food and agriculture system more balanced, healthy and sustainable," said Tom Colicchio, co-founder of Food Policy Action, chef, and food advocate. "Food is political, and it matters in this election. We all feel the impact of the food system's successes and its failures up and down the food chain. Our out of balance food system is truly failing the American public, and we need a strong leader in the White House who will prioritize fixing our food system. We urge all voters who care about good food policy to support Hillary Clinton for president and help get out the vote this year."
 
FPA continues to hold Congress accountable for their votes on food and agriculture. For the first time, FPA is endorsing candidates in 12 of the most competitive races in the country, with a goal of electing more and better food leaders across the country. FPA is committed to helping Congress have more effective leaders on food and agriculture issues to drive more bipartisan solutions and market signals that can move the dial forward for good food policies.
 
FPA supports the following candidates in the most competitive races with failing food policy incumbents:
1.    IA-01: FPA endorses challenger Monica Vernon over incumbent Rep. Rod Blum (FPA 2015 Score: 18%)
2.    NJ-05: FPA endorses challenger Josh Gottheimer over incumbent Rep. Scott Garrett (FPA 2015 Score: 30%)
3.    CA-21: FPA endorses challenger Emilio Huerta over incumbent Rep. David Valadao (FPA 2015 Score 18%)
4.    IL-10: FPA endorses challenger Brad Schneider over incumbent Rep. Bob Dold (FPA 2015 Score 30%)
5.    NY-01: FPA endorses challenger Anna Throne-Holst over incumbent Rep. Lee Zeldin (FPA 2015 Score 50%)
6.    CA-10: FPA endorses challenger Michael Eggman over incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham (FPA 2015 Score 20%)
7.    North Carolina: FPA endorses challenger Deborah Ross over incumbent Sen. Richard Burr (FPA 2015 Score 40%)
8.    Pennsylvania: FPA endorses challenger Katie McGinty over incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey (FPA 2015 Score 40%)
9.    Wisconsin: FPA endorses challenger Russ Feingold over incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (FPA  2015 Score 40%)
10.  Missouri: FPA endorses challenger Jason Kander over incumbent Sen. Roy Blunt (FPA Score 40%)
11.  Ohio: FPA endorses challenger Ted Strickland over incumbent Sen. Rob Portman (FPA Score 40%)
12.  Illinois: FPA endorses challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth over incumbent Sen. Mark Kirk (FPA 2015 Score 40%)
 
"Expanding our involvement in elections across the country is an essential strategy to strengthen our political prowess and empower voters to vote with their forks at the polls," said Ken Cook, Food Policy Action's cofounder, and board chair. "By letting voters in these competitive districts know that these incumbents are serving them rotten food policies and that there are more and better options out there, we're making the good food movement relevant to the voter constituency. FPA knows food only wins when good food candidates do. We will keep doing all that we can to elect better food leaders in Congress because we know that will ultimately lead to better food policy that the American public deserves."
 
About Food Policy Action: Food Policy Action was established in 2012 through a collaboration of national food policy leaders in order to hold legislators accountable on votes that have an effect on food and farming. Our goal is to change the national dialogue on food policy by educating the public on how elected officials are voting on these issues. Through education and the National Food Policy Scorecard, more people will be armed with the information they need to vote with their forks and elect more food policy leaders across the country. 

Endorsements made by Food Policy Action, www.foodpolicyaction.org, are not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

###