Some anniversaries are painful.

Three years ago today, a violent mob of domestic terrorists — incited by Donald Trump — attacked the Capitol and tried to overturn the results of a presidential election. An election that Trump had lost, fair and square.

I’m thinking of the families who lost loved ones who defended the Capitol, and I’m thinking about all the work we must continue to do to save our democracy.

The coup attempt failed that day, but the threat is still prominent today. Instead of doing the right thing for our country and distancing themselves from the man who incited the insurrection, Republicans have still propped up and enabled Trump, and he’s now the GOP frontrunner for president once again. This is despite the fact that he has been criminally indicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

His allies are spreading conspiracy theories and hoping that Americans will grow tired and move on — like any other news cycle — as a way to minimize the severity of this attack. According to Washington Post polling, today fewer Americans believe that Trump bears “a great deal” or “a good amount” of responsibility for the insurrection than they did in 2021.

But we won't forget what happened, and we won't ignore what we're still up against.

The attempt to undermine democracy didn’t begin, or end, on January 6, 2021. The attack on the Capitol was a piece of an ongoing scheme to defy the will of the American people — one that is still unfolding, and one that we must keep confronting.

Let’s not forget: Mike Johnson — Kevin McCarthy’s replacement as Speaker of the House — was a firm supporter of the Big Lie. If Republicans maintain their majority in the House this year, the certification of presidential election results will be handled by a far-right, anti-democracy extremist.

This is who the Republican party is now.

We have a country where one of the two major parties clearly believes that the way they will get power, and hold on to power, is by keeping American citizens from voting through various voter suppression tactics. Or if they do vote, to gerrymander them to suppress their voices. And if voters do elect enough representatives to represent their values in our government, any progress on those values is blocked by the filibuster. Republicans are now quite open about how this is the way they can hold on to power.

So, in 2024, we’ve got to hold the line against Donald Trump and his election-denying enablers. I’ll keep working to make sure the American people can cast their ballots and have those ballots counted — even if that means ending the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. And I’m honored to work alongside you to protect and strengthen our democracy.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth