John, 

With Tuesday’s federal General Election results, so many of our communities are whiplashed back to a darker time in America. Tribal Nations, women, queer and trans people, immigrants, people of color, people with disabilities, low-income people, and more–all face the same anxiety, fear, and insecurity that was all too familiar just four years ago. We are grieving, to say the least.

For everyone struggling and mourning right now, we are with you. We always will be. We did everything in our power to fight for the future our communities and of our environment.

 And the results in our state provide a glimmer of hope that we all could use right now.

• In our Washington, environmental champions won overwhelmingly across the state, and we defeated Initiative 2117, which would have repealed the landmark carbon pricing law we passed in 2021. Initiative 2066, which would raise costs and slow our transition to clean energy, is still too close to call. We fought hard to defeat I-2006, which was backed by fossil fuel companies and right-wing special interests. Whatever the outcome, we’re in this for the long haul, and Tuesday’s results show that voters across Washington are committed to climate action.

• Bob Ferguson is our next Governor. As attorney general, he sued the first Trump administration 100 times, and only lost three times.

• Nick Brown is our next Attorney General.

• Dave Upthegrove is our next Commissioner of Public Lands,  and the first out-LGBTQ person elected to executive office in Washington.

• Initiative 2117 and two more were soundly defeated.

• We got more than 58,000 new or infrequent voters to vote for the environment.

I share this because, when conservation voters show up, we are a force. And that is because of YOU! We cannot do this work without supporters like you. The time, the money, the attention, the volunteering, and the sharing with your networks–That is why we have such strong environmental leaders winning. It helped defeat far-right ballot initiatives.

I want to end with this quote from Wilma Mankiller, who was the first woman elected as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, “The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.”

We can’t. We won’t. And when you’re with Washington Conservation Action, together, we are a powerful force for progress. Today, take the time you need for yourself, because tomorrow, we fight.

Alyssa Macy (she/her)
CEO, Washington Conservation Action 
Citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Oregon