Climate activist Dems dropped more than $1.4 million on private jets during midterms

FIRST ON FOX: Democratic campaigns and left-wing political action committees that have argued for aggressive climate policies spent big on private jet travel during the 2022 midterm election cycle.

Overall, Democrats reported spending at least $1.4 million chartering private jets during the election cycle between 2021 and 2022, according to a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission filings. Among those to charter private jets were former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and top Democratic Party committees.

According to the data, Pelosi's campaign paid a staggering $349,563 for charter aircraft, which included $51,389 in in-kind travel to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pelosi's campaign directed the payments to Advanced Aviation, a northern Virginia-based charter firm often hired by politicians and campaigns. Her campaign also hired Los Angeles-based Clay Lacy Aviation on at least one occasion.

Advanced Aviation – the preferred charter company for Pelosi and many of the Democratic committees – offers seven aircraft ranging from turbo prop jets, which seat up to eight passengers for destinations of up to three hours, to posh ultra long-range jets, which offer a "comprehensive list of on-board amenities and sophisticated finishes," seat up to 18 passengers, include a flight attendant, and conduct travel times of up to 16 hours, their website states.

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Pelosi has been a vocal proponent of slashing carbon pollution and phasing out fossil fuels. Last year, after leading a congressional delegation to a United Nation climate summit in Egypt she said "nothing can deter House Democrats from our urgent mission to save the planet."

Sanders' campaign, meanwhile, paid $71,800 for private jet travel. The campaign hired three separate firms, Apollo Jets, N-Jet and Mac Jet Charter, for its travels, his filings show.

"Climate change is a global emergency," Sanders' campaign website states. "The Amazon rainforest is burning, Greenland’s ice shelf is melting, and the Arctic is on fire."

"The scientific community is telling us in no uncertain terms that we have less than 11 years left to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy, if we are going to leave this planet healthy and habitable for ourselves, our children, grandchildren, and future generations," it adds.

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Sanders has also endorsed the Green New Deal, a multitrillion-dollar proposal heralded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., that would quickly push the energy system from mainly fossil fuel power generation to 100% renewable power, a transition experts have warned would dramatically threaten grid reliability.

The Democrats' jet-setting ways also extended to its primary committees that prop up candidates across the country. 

The Democratic National Committee (DNC), Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund – a joint fundraising venture consisting of the DNC, all 50 state Democratic parties, and the District of Columbia Democratic Committee – reported large spending on private jet travel. The committees contributed vast sums to left-wing campaigns during the 2022 election.

The DNC shelled out $337,903 on private jet expenditures, while the DSCC spent $223,929 and the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund spent $94,164. Each committee exclusively used Advanced Aviation to charter trips, according to their records.

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And NextGen Climate Action Committee, a political action committee associated with a climate activist group founded by liberal billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, spent $56,982 on private jet travel. 

Additionally, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., also spent tens of thousands of dollars on private jet travel during the election.

"Climate change is a human-made and existential crisis, plain and simple," Schumer's Senate website states. "And it disproportionately harms poorer and working class communities and communities of color, making it not only an environmental crisis, but also an economic and justice crisis."

Lawmakers, federal officials and celebrities who often warn of the cataclysmic risks of human-caused global warming have been heavily criticized for traveling on private jets instead of commercial airlines.

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Private jet travel, which is by far the most carbon-intensive mode of transportation, emits 10 times more carbon than commercial planes and 50 times more carbon than trains, according to a 2021 report from the group Transport & Environment.

Bill Gates – who has spent millions of dollars on climate projects and often urges governments to take more action combating global warming – recently said he offsets his carbon use and that he was "part of the solution." The answer echoed comments from special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry, who told a reporter he had to "fly to meet with people and get things done" in 2019.

Kerry's family jet was sold over the summer amid criticism that came after a Fox News Digital report that showed the plane had burned 325 metric tons since he was appointed the Biden administration's lead on international climate policy.

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"The problem with folks like John Kerry and the climate hypocrites who run the green movement is that they want to use the coercive power of government," Daniel Turner, the executive director of Power the Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview in July. 

"They want to use the power of government to deny the rest of us the ability to use those fossil fuels that they take for granted." 

And Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came under fire in December after it was revealed that he has taken at least 18 private jet trips since taking office, a practice which forced a Trump administration official to resign. A spokesperson for Buttigieg said at the time that travel and logistical decisions were "grounded in efficient and responsible use of taxpayer dollars."

The Pelosi and Sanders campaigns, DNC, DSCC, and NextGen did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.