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The nations leading electric utility and their affiliated companies, along with top utility executives, contributed more than four times as much money to the Republican Governors Association in the first six months of 2017 than to the Democratic Governors Association, according to a new report.

Governors can have a significant impact on the activities of utility companies in their states, whether it is appointing members to state regulators commissions or developing energy policy. Most recently, Republican governors in Maine and Indiana played important roles in impeding the growth of clean energy in their states, UtilitySecrets.org, a joint project of the Energy and Policy Institute and the Center for Media and Democracy, stated in the report.

In Indiana,Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed abillthat shreds incentives for rooftop solar, delivering a blow to solar installers and their customers. In Maine,lawmakersfailed to overrideGov. Paul LePages(R) veto of a solar bill aimed at boosting rooftop solar growth. The actions by the Republican governors were supported by the electric utilities in the state.

There are two gubernatorial elections in 2017 and 36 in 2018. Twenty-six of these seats are currently held by Republicans. With West Virginia Gov. Jim Justices recent switch to the Republican Party, the GOP now holds 34 governorships, an all-time high for the party.

The results in the large number of gubernatorial elections in 2018 will likely play a role in how the United States goes aboutcutting carbon dioxide emissions, according to a report released last week by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. (ThinkProgress is an editorially independent news site housed in the Center for American Progress.)

For the United States as a whole, however, meaningful action on climate change will require expanding the map of states actively involved in curbing carbon pollution and preparing for its effectsas well as ratcheting up current actions and commitments, the report stated. A change in leadership in New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan to one with a strong focus on reducing carbon pollution would send a clear message to the White House and the rest of the world that American voters support climate action.

In its report, UtilitySecrets.org found that electric utilities, their affiliated companies, and their executives contributed $1,154,355 to the Republican Governors Association in the first six months of 2017, compared to $286,427 donated to the Democratic Governors Association.

The group has similar lawsuit pending against Scott Pruitt in Oklahoma.

Fifteen companies surveyed by UtilitySecrets.org contributed money only to the Republican Governors Association. Five companies or associations Dominion Energy, PSEG Services, Southern Co., Xcel Energy, and the Edison Electric Institute, the electric utility industrys leading trade association contributed money to both the Republican and Democratic governors associations.Only PSEG Services donated more to the Democratic Governors Association than to the Republican Governors Association, and only Xcel Energy donated equal amounts to the two groups.

Only one utility, Puget Sound Energy, contributed solely to the Democratic Governors Association. The company serves1.1 million electric customers and 800,000 natural gas customers in Washington state, a state that has had only Democratic governors over the past three decades.

Its pretty clear the utilities have an agenda and Republicans have been more welcoming to help with that agenda compared to Democrats, which can explain the difference, Matt Kasper, research director at the Energy & Policy Institute and author of the report, said in a statement emailed to ThinkProgress. And now with Trump in office, corporations that give to these national organizations not only get access to the state leaders, they can get access to the leaders in the executive branch.

Utilities also donated $271,575 to the Republican Attorneys General Association, and $65,450.00 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association over the same period, according to the report. Republicans are hoping to defend 18 attorneys general seats in 2018 and pick up additional seats, including the 2017 attorney general race in Virginia.

UtilitySecrets.org gathered their data fromfilingsdetailing expenditures and funders recently submitted to the IRS by the governor and attorneys general associations.

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Top utilities are spending a lot of money to elect Republican governors - ThinkProgress

Congressional candidate Katie Hill was sitting around a kitchen table with a local activist group last spring when one of the attendees asked her a question: Will she have to soft pedal her stance on any issues to unseat Republican Rep. Steve Knight in the 25th District?

The progressive Democrat started to answer, then paused to ask a person livestreaming the meeting on Facebook: This isnt going to be something that Im going to be blasted all over Facebook for, right?

After getting assurances that the video would only be available to a private group, Hill said one of the issues she cant discuss directly is single-payer healthcare.

"I shouldn't go into the district and talk about single-payer, right? Like, that word by itself is going to be something that just immediately turns off a lot of people," Hill said. "But, if I talk about how we need to make sure that everybody has access to healthcare and that it's affordable for everybody and how having a government option [is needed] at the very least, that is something people can really get behind. It's more about the way we talk about things than being very far apart on issues."

Courtesy of Katie Hill for Congress

Congressional candidate Katie Hill

Congressional candidate Katie Hill (Courtesy of Katie Hill for Congress)

The video, which was posted online to the storage site Dropbox and shared with the Los Angeles Times this week, shows the delicate line some Democratic candidates are walking as the national party goes after the more than 30 seats it needs to win back control of the House. The idea of a single-payer healthcare system, in which the government pays for a base level of healthcare for all citizens, has been growing in popularity in party circles since it became a major policy plank in Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. But it remains a nonstarter for many conservatives, and is unlikely to catch on in a Republican-controlled Congress and White House.

The path to a House Democratic majority goes through the seven California Republican-held districts that backed Hillary Clinton in 2016. That includes places like the 25th District, where voters have sent Republicans to Congress for decades, but Democrats have a 3-percentage-point voter registration lead and voters there chose Clinton by nearly 7 percentage points in 2016.

Hill said in an interview that she believes the country will eventually have single-payer healthcare, but using the term puts off people in a district with a large number of conservative voters. Hill said she asked whether the video shot during a May 2 gathering for the liberal activist group Indivisible would be widely shared because talking to a liberal group is different than talking to the general public.

Look, is it the best idea to be talking about the strategy for how we frame conversations? Probably I wouldnt be advised thats what I should say, Hill said.

Hill has spoken publicly about her wish for every person to have healthcare, and paying out of pocket for her teenage brothers drug addiction treatment. But she said achieving a single-payer healthcare system shouldnt be prioritized over working for healthcare solutions in the interim, including practical fixes to the system that both sides can embrace.

It comes down to having nuanced discussions, Hill said. As purple districts, we have the opportunity to say, No, we cant have these binary conversations.

Healthcare is expected to be a key issue in the 2018 contests.

Democrats are already lambasting GOP lawmakers, including Knight, for backing their party's House healthcare bill in May. Knight has said it was a tough vote, but he thinks it was the right bill to address changes needed to the Affordable Care Act, and he isnt worried about Democrats using it against him.

At the same time, some have threatened to make support for single-payer healthcare a litmus test for Democrats. Our Revolution, a political group inspired by Sanders, threatened primary challenges this week against Democrats who arent vocal about it.

Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, told Politico, "We're not going to accept no more hemming and hawing. No more game playing. Make your stand."

Backers of single-payer healthcare in California are also trying to recall Democratic Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon because he shelved a bill to create a state system earlier this year.

But the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to use single-payer healthcare against Democrats. Just last week, it went after another Democrat in the race against Knight, Bryan Caforio, over whether he supports a single-payer system. He has said for months that he does, although Caforio, like Hill, doesnt use the phrase. Hes more likely to refer to Medicare for all.

This is a universal human rights issue and Im going to talk about that in the district, Caforio said.

Caforio lost to Knight in 2016 by 6 percentage points. Three other Democrats have announced challenges, but Caforio and Hill have an early fundraising lead.

sarah.wire@latimes.com

Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter

Read more about the 55 members of California's delegation at latimes.com/politics

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'May you die in pain': California GOP congressman gets an earful at town hall

Steve Knight faces heated questions about Trump policies at town hall

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How does a progressive Democrat try to unseat a Republican? Step one: Don't talk about single-payer healthcare - Los Angeles Times

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Republican makes provocative comments about McCain's brain cancer MSNBC It's no secret that Republicans were disappointed when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joined Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and 48 Senate Democrats in derailing the GOP's far-right health care plan two weeks ago. But just ... and more »

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Republican makes provocative comments about McCain's brain cancer - MSNBC

President Trump made a surprise endorsement on Tuesday night in Alabamas Republican Senate primary, throwing his support behind incumbent Sen. Luther Strange over the other conservative candidates running just one week before election day.

Senator Luther Strange has done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama, Trump tweeted. He has my complete and total endorsement!

The primary to fill the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set for next Tuesday, Aug. 15. A run-off will be held Sept. 26 if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, which seems likely in the crowded field though polling has been scarce.

Mr. President, what an honor, Strange tweeted after Trumps announcement. Thank you so much for your support and confidence. Proud to work with you to #MAGA #ALsen.

Trump's endorsement is a major blow to U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a conservative lawmaker who has been endorsed by pro-Trump figures, including Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity.

"I respect President Trump, but I am baffled and disappointed Mitch McConnell and the swamp somehow misled the president into endorsing Luther Strange, Brooks said in a Wednesday statement.

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who has the ardent support of Christian conservatives, is also vying for a spot in the run-off and has vowed to be a reliable advocate for the Trump administration in Washington.

Trump's endorsement of Strange is a win for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose political operation has been boosting Strange while running ads portraying Brooks as not sufficiently pro-Trump.

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Brooks supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, something his opponents have used against him. A super PAC with ties to McConnell, the Senate Leadership Fund, has been running television ads of Brooks past critical comments about Trump.

Meanwhile, Brooks has been tying Strange to the Republican establishment and McConnell, whom he says he would not vote for as Republican majority leader.

Strange, the states former attorney general, was temporarily appointed to the seat in April after Sessions joined the Trump administration.

His opponents have used that appointment from former Gov. Robert Bentley against him: Stranges office was investigating Bentley before the governor made him senator. Bentley has since resigned from office in scandal.

The contest has been defined largelyover candidates emphasizing their support of the president in a state where the president remains widely popular.

TRUMP-SESSIONS FEUD JOLTS ALABAMA SENATE PRIMARY

Discussing Trumps election to the White House, Strange said this month: "I consider it a biblical miracle that he's there."

Brooks has vowed to fight for funding for Trumps border wall. And if I have to filibuster on the Senate floor, Ill even read the King James Bible until the wall is funded, Brooks said in a recent ad.

Moore told the Associated Press in May: God puts people in positions in positions he wantsI believe he sent Donald Trump in there to do what Donald Trump can do.

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Trump endorses Strange in Alabama's GOP Senate primary - Fox News

(WASHINGTON) Republicans face a problem as they try to defend a slim majority in the Senate and win races elsewhere: Insurgent primary candidates are trying to lay claim to President Donald Trump's mantle, and knock out the establishment's choices.

The latest case is in Nevada, where endangered GOP incumbent Sen. Dean Heller drew a challenge Tuesday from businessman and repeat failed candidate Danny Tarkanian, who announced his bid in an early morning Fox News Channel appearance seemingly aimed at an audience of one: the president himself.

"We're never going to make America great again unless we have senators in office that fully support President Trump and his America-first agenda," Tarkanian said, criticizing Heller as "one of the first never-Trumpers in Nevada" and arguing he had obstructed Trump's agenda in Congress.

Heller opposed early versions of Trump-backed health care legislation in the Senate before voting for a final version that failed anyway. His campaign spokesman, Tommy Ferraro, dismissed Tarkanian as a "perennial candidate."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the official Senate GOP campaign arm, quickly announced its support for Heller, and a super PAC backed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., committed to spending what it takes to support him and other GOP incumbents.

The dynamic mirrors longstanding clashes between the GOP's establishment and activist wings, which played out disastrously in 2010 and 2012 when hard-core conservatives won Senate primaries but went on to lose to Democrats. McConnell and his allies vowed never to let that happen again and have subsequently intervened in primaries when necessary to produce candidates who could win.

The X factor now is the appeal Trump may hold to Republican primary voters and what Trump himself will do. The president offered one clue Tuesday night, backing the establishment candidate in next week's GOP Senate special election primary in Alabama, hours after an Associated Press story noted the absence so far of a presidential endorsement in the race.

"Senator Luther Strange has done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama. He has my complete and total endorsement!" the president wrote, bypassing a firebrand House conservative, Mo Brooks, and an evangelical former state chief justice, Roy Moore, in favor of the appointed senator strongly backed by McConnell. The candidates are fighting over the seat previously held by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

But whether Heller will get the presidential seal of approval in his primary is far less clear, and he is not alone.

Next door in Arizona, GOP incumbent Sen. Jeff Flake, another Trump skeptic during last year's campaign, faces at least one challenge from the right in conservative Kelli Ward, who repeatedly denounces Flake while praising Trump.

In each case, to their annoyance, establishment-aligned Republicans face the prospect of spending millions to protect an incumbent from a challenger who might have a tough time getting out of the general election. Republicans hold a 52-48 Senate majority and are playing offense against Democratic incumbents in 10 states Trump won.

"It's a critical time to make sure that Republican members know, when they're casting tough votes, that we'll have their backs," said Steven Law, a former McConnell chief of staff who heads the Senate Leadership Fund, in describing the decision to come in with millions to back Strange in Alabama.

Until Trump weighed in with his endorsement late Tuesday, the Alabama race had underscored questions about the role the president would play in Senate primaries.

A former GOP Senate campaign official with knowledge of the situation said the NRSC has sought help from the Trump White House on Senate races but those requests went unanswered under the leadership of recently ousted Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, leading to widespread frustration. The former campaign official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal party matters.

While Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have said they want to increase the Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the White House's approach to contentious primaries isn't clear yet. And Trump has already worked against McConnell's goals, ignoring his pleas not to appoint former Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, a likely Senate candidate, as Interior secretary, while boosting endangered Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia by hosting them at Trump Tower.

As for Heller, he is already walking the Trump tightrope.

Heller's initial denunciation of a Senate plan to repeal and replace Obamacare drew the ire of a political nonprofit promoting Trump's agenda. America First Policies tied Heller to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a social media push and threatened to spend more than $1 million trashing him on television and radio on his home turf. McConnell called the group's attacks "beyond stupid."

In addition to the health care episode, Heller in 2015 said he was donating Trump's previous campaign contributions to charity a move he announced after Trump came under fire for characterizing some illegal immigrants from Mexico as rapists. For a president with a famously long memory for slights, Heller may have little hope of getting back into his good graces.

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The Republican Party Has a Big Problem: Insurgent Candidates - TIME