'MILLIONS WILL DIE' without a carbon tax to fix global warming, says a New Jersey U.S. Senate candidate in hysterical online campaign ad

'Climate change is real, and humans are to blame,' warns New Jersey Democratic Rep. Rush Holt in a 90-second YouTube campaign ad released Monday. And without a carbon tax, he warns in a shorter 15-second ad, 'millions will die.'

Holt is running in an August Democratic primary, leading up to a U.S. Senate special election ordered by Gov. Chris Christie following the June death of long-time Sen. Frank Lautenberg.



On his campaign website the eight-term congressman, one of two physicists in the House of Representatives, blames global warming on 'the assault that corporate interests are waging on our planet.'



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'Millions will die' without a U.S. carbon tax, says Rep. Rush Holt. But his main Republican rival called that statement 'outrageous,' 'irresponsible' and 'silly' Newark Mayor Cory Booker is the odds-on favorite to become the Democrats' Senate nominee, but Rush Holt has drawn attention to himself this week

'We can no longer allow Republicans to deny obvious truths,' Holt says in the longer version of his campaign video. 'Our climate is changing, the consequences are lethal, humans are responsible, and America must act.'

Republican Senate candidate Steve Lonegan, the likely GOP primary winner, called shenanigans on the ad.

'They have no proof of such a ridiculous statement,' .

'It's outrageous, it's irresponsible and it's actually silly,' Lonegan told NJ Today . 'To just make a claim that millions will die just demonstrates the bizarre -- they have no proof of such a ridiculous statement.'



Senate candidate Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., like Holt, is hoping his name recognition as a congressman will help him in the Democratic primary

Lonegan tried to tie Holt's apocalyptic prediction to the three other candidates for the Democratic Senate nomination. They include Newark Mayor Cory Booker, N.J. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and Rep. Frank Pallone.



Steve Lonegan, a conservative Republican candidate who once led the New Jersey chapter of Americans For Prosperity, mocked Holt's predictions

'The real question is, does Cory Booker, Frank Pallone and Sheila Oliver agree with Rush Holt’s radical, irresponsible and silly statements? I want to know if they really buy into this far left extremism,' he said.

Holt believes what he says. 'I think it's no exaggeration at all to say that millions will die,' he told an editorial board meeting of the Newark Star-Ledger on Wednesday, according to the Huffington Post .

'And in fact there’s pretty good evidence that millions already have died because of climate change.'

Chris Horner, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told MailOnline that 'you could kill millions trying' to implement a carbon tax.



'Possibly the congressman can just provide us a number, or two,' Horner mused.

'What is the economic proper cost for no impact on climate? How many (more) seniors dying from fuel poverty is the right number, for no impact on climate?'

Oliver fired back against Lonegan in a campaign statement, calling him an 'anti-science Republican with his head placed firmly in the sand on the crucial problems.'

She accused him of 'dumbing down America by denying accepted scientific fact and placing oil profits ahead of middle class people affected by calamities like Superstorm Sandy.'

Holt also brought up Sandy in his video's longer cut.

Without a carbon tax, he claimed, 'sea levels will rise; superstorms like Sandy will become more frequent; floods, droughts and wildfires will become more severe.'