Friend,

I believe that only a true progressive can defeat Cory Gardner and that is why I am reaching out to connect with you today.

I, for one, am in this race to stay, because our lives depend on candidates taking bold action, just like activists are doing every day.

It's been an interesting couple weeks in the US Senate race with some candidates suspending their campaigns and some giving their support to John Hickenlooper.

You see, lots of people up and down the ballot are trying to pitch themselves as progressive and that is a great thing when it is genuine.

But not one other Senate candidate in Colorado has put their status on the line to actively resist the fossil fuel industry’s agenda, and as a result, we have not been united in our fight to protect the environment. Our state, our country and our planet will continue to be in peril unless we take bold action now. 

Friends who fought alongside me resisting fracking over the past decade sacrificed countless hours to fight the status quo and many worked in other careers and brought up kids at the same time. 

I'm tired of hearing politicians say that they will (finally) support climate action. Most don’t go nearly far enough. Even politicians who call themselves progressive, have not taken action when we all knew what needed to be done.

And about that No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge? What took some people so long to sign the pledge? I signed it five months ago, on the night of my launch. Easiest thing I ever did. It was the least I could do. What has been hard has been fighting the extractive industries for a decade and barely moving the needle at all.

There are politicians who exaggerate their involvement in combatting the climate crisis, who don't support the Green New Deal, who still think we can have an all-of-the-above-policy, who have worked on all-of-the-above-policies in the past and who have been deeply involved in promoting the extraction of fossil fuels or who support others who have.

And how do you know what someone will do, once they get to the Senate? Look at what they have done in the past. 

The past is a great predictor of the future. We need a proven fighter ready to confront Cory Gardner; not a bunch of politicians who lean left or right whenever the wind shifts.

In Solidarity,

Diana