Incumbents Who Lost Their Seats Had the Worst Environmental Records in the Legislature
12 of 13 defeated legislators scored below their chamber’s average on EANY’s 2026 Scorecard; Hochul and other anti-data center candidates earned a mandate
ALBANY, NY — The 13 incumbent New York State legislators currently trailing in unofficial election returns averaged 49.7 on Environmental Advocates NY’s 2026 New York State Environmental Scorecard—roughly 14 points below the Legislature-wide average. Twelve scored below their chamber’s average. Released in August, the Scorecard is EANY’s annual accounting of how every New York State lawmaker voted, sponsored, and spoke out on environmental bills during the latest legislative session.
“Candidates across New York campaigned on affordability. EANY’s Scorecard shows how sitting legislators governed when they had to decide who bears the costs for rising energy costs, pollution, waste, and clean air: companies driving costs up with their operations, or families, ratepayers, and taxpayers,” said Vanessa Fajans-Turner, Executive Director of Environmental Advocates NY. “The incumbents now trailing averaged 49.7 on that record, well below their peers and what New Yorkers deserve. The officials taking office next year will build their own records, vote by vote, and EANY will publish them.”
According to the EANY Scorecard, 12 of the 13 incumbent legislators who lost their reelection bids scored below their chamber’s average on environmental votes.
- The 13 defeated incumbents averaged just 49.7 out of 100, roughly 15 points below the Legislature-wide average of 64.1.
- In the Assembly, all seven defeated incumbents scored below the chamber average of 59. Their scores ranged from 27 to 49, averaging just 41.
- In the Senate, five of six defeated incumbents scored below the chamber average of 75.2, averaging 60. While Sen. Robert Rolison (R-Mid-Hudson) was the lone exception, his opponent, Lisa Kaul, ran with climate as a top issue.
Members with the lowest scores tended to vote against common-sense environmental, health, and safety bills, such as a one-year moratorium on hyperscale AI data centers and enacting statewide standards to limit toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water.
The story voters are telling is unmistakable: legislators who stood against clean water, clean air, and lower energy costs paid the price at the ballot box.
Meanwhile, Governor Kathy Hochul, who won reelection decisively by nearly twenty points, now has a clear mandate to keep leading on an issue that energized voters across party lines this cycle: reining in data centers. Across the country, voters balked at the prospect of massive developments driving up electricity bills, straining the grid, and depleting natural resources while creating few local benefits. Candidates who took those concerns seriously tended to win nationwide this year.
Governor Hochul has already implemented the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale (50MW or above) data centers, and a more substantive bill to regulate data center development — the Responsible Data Center Development Act sponsored by Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D-New York City) — is currently awaiting her signature.
“Governor Hochul took an important first step in July with her Executive Order. We urge her to heed the strong public referendum now built on it by signing the Responsible Data Center Development Act,” continued Fajans-Turner. “Governor Hochul and the next Legislature now own the choices about who pays, who benefits and who is accountable for data center development. EANY will publish their records and apply the same standard to every official, regardless of party.”
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Environmental Advocates NY is New York’s leading environmental watchdog, working for over 50 years to advance strong environmental laws and hold decision-makers accountable. EANY is nonpartisan and does not support or oppose candidates or political parties. We report on public officials’ actions in office according to public criteria.
