Dear friend,

The national election delivered a body blow to animals in Colorado.

Voters in the Rocky Mountain state rejected Prop 127, a campaign that Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy organized, to halt the highly commercialized trophy hunting and fur-trapping of mountain lions and bobcats.

A majority of voters bought the bait-and-switch argument that only the “experts at Colorado Parks and Wildlife” should decide wildlife policy issues.

I am amazed that so many people bought that specious argument, since voters took matters into their hands some years ago and banned the hounding and baiting of black bears and also the use of steel-jawed leghold traps in two conclusive ballot initiative fights.

Though we didn’t win this battle, we will not give up the fight.

Prop 127 may not have passed, but that does not mean that voters approve of vicious and highly commercialized forms of trophy hunting and commercial trapping of our native cats. The majority of voters told us, in thousands of conversations in doorways, dog parks, and city parks, that serious-minded wildlife protection reforms should be instituted by handing off the matter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and its decision-makers at the commission overseeing the agency.

The majority said we want you to switch venues for reform, not to abandon the reform plan. The only question is how to achieve it.

We’ll continue fighting to end hounding and baiting of our native cats and appealing directly to the agency. The arguments grounded on ethics and science strongly favor our position.

Animal Wellness Action Works on Candidate Elections
Animal Wellness Action was also active in candidate elections. We conducted TV advertising in nine Congressional races, favoring candidates who are strong on animal welfare and opposing candidates who want to harm animals. We make judgments without respect to party affiliation.

So far, we’ve had some very good outcomes.

• We backed Democrat John Mannion, a strong animal advocate for years in the New York Senate, in his race against first-term Republican Brandon Williams, NY-22, who consistently voted against animal welfare and wouldn’t even cosponsor the FIGHT Act. Mannion prevailed, and I’m confident he’s going to be a strongly pro-animal congressman. Here’s our ad.


• Republican Nancy Mace, SC-1, won her race comfortably and will return for a third term. She’s leading on four animal protection bills, including the ADD SOY Act, MINKS Are Superspreaders, and Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons. That kind of leadership warrants our active support, and she got it. Here is the ad that played in her district.


• Republican Brian Fitzpatrick won his seventh term in the U.S. House. Like Mace, he’s an incredible leader on animal protection, as the lead author of the Kangaroo Protection Act, Puppy Protection Act, and other bills. Here’s our pro-Fitzpatrick ad.


• And Democrat Don Davis, one of the true leaders on animal welfare on the House Agriculture Committee, was declared the winner today in the race in his tough eastern North Carolina district. Davis is championing a half dozen of our major priorities in Congress. Here’s our ad.

Control of the U.S. House depends on outcomes in about nine still-unsettled races. Unbelievably, we played a role in five of these races where the elections are still too close to call!

• We backed Republican David Valado in California’s 22nd congressional district. He’s ahead by 10 points, and we think he’ll hold onto his seat. A farmer, Valadao co-led a letter by a group of Republicans opposing the EATS Act, and he’s fighting the overturn of Prop 12. He also helped insert language in the Ag-FDA spending bill telling the FDA to get on with implementing the FDA Modernization Act 2.0. And he’s cosponsored FIGHT, the Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act (ACE), FDA Modernization Act 3.0, and other key animal welfare bills. Watch our ad here.


• Elsewhere in the Central Valley, Democrat Adam Gray is behind in the race against Republican incumbent John Duarte, who has been working in his first term in Congress to overturn Prop 12 and other state farm animal welfare laws. Gray strongly opposes the EATS Act, and we are hoping that with 100,000 ballots to be counted, Gray can catch Duarte and fill the seat for California’s 13th congressional district. Here’s our ad highlighting Duarte’s ties to Smithfield Foods, the China-controlled company that is lobbying to pass EATS.


• Republican incumbent Mike Garcia, CA-27, is ahead by a couple of percentage points, but his path to re-election is still uncertain with thousands more ballots to be counted. Garcia held firm against the wishes of Republican leaders and opposed efforts to remove critical federal protections for wolves, even as Republican leaders tried to twist his arm and get him to support federal delisting. He’s a cosponsor of a raft of animal protection bills and has been a leader in the past on ACE. Here’s our ad for him.


• Democrat Amish Shah was the top animal welfare advocate in the Arizona legislature, and with that unmistakable leadership, he got the nod from us in a tough race with Congressman David Schweikert in Arizona’s 1st congressional district. A few thousand votes ahead of Shah, with lots of ballots remaining, Schweikert had a middle-of-the-road record on animal welfare. If the Republican prevails, we hope he’ll be more active on animal welfare priorities in the new Congress and wade in more decisively on animal issues when we need him. See our pro-Shah ad here.


• Democrat challenger Derek Tran has fallen behind Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel, CA-45, in this Orange County seat in California. Steel has been a zero on animal welfare, and Tran would be a leader. She’s ahead but late ballots in California have historically strongly favored Democrats, so he may still have a chance. Here’s how we weighed in on the race.

As I’ve said before, we call balls and strikes on animal issues. We want animal protection to be viewed as a universal value.

It’s our goal to see animal protection issues greeted with support from lawmakers and voters no matter where they land ideologically.

For all animals,

Wayne Pacelle President Animal Wellness Action