Team, it’s almost the 6 month anniversary of the Capitol Insurrection -- and we can’t let CO-03 voters forget Lauren Boebert’s role.

Donald’s op-ed was just featured in the The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel . Will you read the below and share it with your network?

Thanks,

Team Valdez

Patriotism means standing up for democracy

By Donald Valdez

Nearly six months ago, Americans watched with horror as our nation’s Capitol was attacked for the first time since the British burned Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812.

This time, however, the attack was not perpetrated by a foreign army, but rather a mob of homegrown, violent, right-wing insurrectionists. It was a shameful and frightening attack on one of the pillars of our democracy: the peaceful transition of power following a free and fair election.

One hundred and forty Capitol Police officers were injured defending the Capitol, “suffering head and back injuries, gouged eyes and severed fingers.” Officer Brian Sicknick lost his life. At least one rioter weaponized a pole flying the American flag during the attack, repeatedly using it to strike a Capitol Police officer as other insurrectionists dragged him down the stairs and onlookers chanted “U-S-A.”

Rioters vandalized the Capitol and ransacked the Speaker of the House’s office, some pausing to pose for pictures. Federal prosecutors have alleged that some of the insurrectionists even intended to “capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government.”

It was a truly grotesque display of hatred, a shocking occurrence for the world’s longest-standing democracy that will forever be a stain on our nation’s history.

As we reflect on this attack half a year later, we must demand answers and accountability. We must have a thorough investigation. This was not some flash mob that manifested itself out of thin air.

For months leading up to the Jan. 6 coup attempt, Donald Trump and other Republicans fed the American public outright lies about the election being “stolen” and encouraged their supporters to show up in D.C. for a rally on the 6th. Right-wing militias, emboldened by Trump’s “Big Lie” helped coordinate the attack in advance. At his rally, Trump again claimed to have won the election, that it was stolen from him by “radical-left Democrats” and encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell.”

At that same rally, Rudy Giuliani called for “trial by combat.” Republicans spread lies about the election — lies intended to ignite outrage, lies that proved deadly as the events of Jan 6 unfolded.

Lauren Boebert was one of the Republicans who fanned the flames of insurrection with lies. In the months leading up to Jan. 6, Boebert repeatedly denounced the results of the election, claiming falsely on Twitter and elsewhere that there had been widespread voter fraud, though no evidence of this was ever presented.

On the day of the attack, she took to the House floor to speak in support of overturning the election, tweeting “Today is 1776.”

Unsurprisingly, Boebert recently voted against creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6. She even opposed giving medals to the police officers who heroically defended the nation’s Capitol that day. If Boebert gets her way, Americans will never know the truth. I believe that every American deserves to know the truth. There are many serious issues that we face today in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Protecting our land and water, ensuring an equitable economic recovery following the pandemic, and guaranteeing access to quality health care, affordable housing, and a good public education are the issues that voters I have spoken to really care about.

I would much rather be focusing on those issues in this piece. But to ensure our communities are represented and we can deliver the results they need, our democratic system of government itself must be protected. Americans have fought hard to secure the freedoms we enjoy today, and we cannot allow these freedoms to be eroded by those who wish to destroy our way of life. On this Independence Day and the anniversary of this shameful attack on our democracy, I ask you to reflect on the freedoms you and your loved ones enjoy, and the sacrifices so many have made to protect those freedoms. I also ask you to demand answers and accountability from those who tried to overturn those freedoms on Jan. 6, 2021.

Donald Valdez is a fifth-generation Coloradan rancher and farmer, who currently represents House District 62 in the Colorado House of Representatives. He is running for Congress in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. You can find his website at donaldvaldez.com and on Twitter at @DonaldValdezCO.

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