Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania (CVP)

As of 2026, CVP was effectively serving as the lobbying arm of PennFuture (formerly known as Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future), a similar Pennsylvania-based environmentalist advocacy group. This arrangement was established in 2017. The two groups are closely related and share staff members. ²

Founding and History

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania was founded in 2009 by Josh McNeil, a Democratic political operative. Formerly the national press secretary for the League of Conservation Voters, McNeil left his role in the national organization to start its Pennsylvania affiliate. ³

In 2017, CVP announced its partnership with PennFuture, another environmentalist organization based in Pennsylvania. Some noted that the partnership would allow PennFuture to lobby more extensively through CVP, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization. ²

PennFuture CEO and long-time environmentalist activist Larry Schweiger told the Philadelphia-based blog Generocity in 2017 that the partnership was created in response to Pennsylvania state politics being “’inundated with dark money.” ² Nonetheless, CVP’s national organization, the League of Conservation Voters, has been accused of being a “dark money heavyweight” by left-of-center organizations, such as the Center for Public Integrity. ¹

Present Activities

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania endorses candidates in state and local elections who promote left-of-center, environmentalist policies on climate change and natural gas drilling. CVP has claimed that non-environmentalist policies perpetrate “environmental racism” and has called for a pause on the issuance of any new natural gas drilling permits in Pennsylvania. ⁴

CVP works closely with PennFuture, a similar Pennsylvania-based environmental advocacy group. ⁵

The Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania are a part of the Pennsylvania Voters Decide coalition, which opposes election-integrity measures supported by conservatives. In September 2024, the coalition opposed a lawsuit by the Republican National Committee which aimed to end the practice of “notice-and-cure” in which counties inform voters of disqualifying errors with their mail ballots and offer them the chance to correct the mistake. ⁶

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania supports Pennsylvania’s membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative market effort among several states that aims to cap the amount of carbon companies are allowed to emit. The group opposed the 2024 budget deal that withdrew Pennsylvania from the RGGI. ⁷

Funding

2025 Election Spending

In the 2025 elections, the Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania spent $53,386 in support of Democratic Party-aligned judicial candidates and in opposition to Republican Party-aligned judicial candidates in the state. ⁸

In the 2025 Commonwealth Court election, the Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania supported Democrat Stella Tsai over Republican environmental attorney Matthew Wolford. Tsai ultimately won the election. The Commonwealth Court deals exclusively with government and administrative law. ⁹

2024 Election Spending

In the 2024 elections, the Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania spent $1,907,883 in support of Democratic candidates and in opposition to Republican candidates in legislative and statewide races.  ⁸

2022 Election Spending

In the 2022 elections, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania spent $3,168,779 in support of Democratic statewide and legislative candidates and in opposition to Republican candidates. ⁸

In the 2022 gubernatorial election, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania joined with four other environmentalist to endorse the only Democratic candidate in the race, then-state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. The group pointed to Shapiro’s environmental record as attorney general, such as his targeting of energy companies for alleged violations of environmental and public health laws. ¹⁰

Leadership

As of 2026, Molly Parzen was the executive director of CVP. Prior to becoming the group’s executive director, she worked for three years as the group’s assistant director and for seven years as the group’s development director. She previously worked as aide, finance director, and campaign manager for federal, state, and local political campaigns and she previously worked as a fundraiser for Jewish groups. ¹¹

Josh McNeil was the former executive director of CVP. Prior to founding CVP, McNeil was a Democratic political operative. He worked on former Democratic Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson’s failed 2008 presidential campaign and worked for a now-defunct left-of-center political consulting firm. ³

Most of CVP’s staff members have worked with the Democratic Party, with experience ranging from local campaigns up to executive positions in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. CVP political director Katie Blume, for example, was the deputy political director and organizing director for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. ⁵