Democratic Green New Deal Defectors Chart Their Own Climate Path

As the founder of a company that turns industrial emissions into energy, Sean Casten turned a career spent fighting climate change into the centerpiece of his successful campaign for Congress.

But don’t expect the first-year House Democrat, who defeated a six-term Republican incumbent in Illinois, to back the ambitious climate plan championed by progressives such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“The Green New Deal is a political document,” said Casten, a member of the moderate New Democrat Coalition of 101 lawmakers. “If we all passed it tomorrow, it wouldn’t make a lick of difference.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Casten is a Democratic ...