Dear Friend,

This week, when we sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner together, we can all reflect on the list of what we can be grateful for this year. That list will be different for each of us—it might include family, friends, our country, or the ability to make a difference for our fellow citizens. With a pandemic impacting our lives in so many ways, we all deserve time to breathe and appreciate our loved ones.

For some of us, Thanksgiving dinner might include uncomfortable conversations about politics. For those of you who are at these Thanksgiving tables, here’s an approach you might consider trying. Over this past year, I have worked to practice empathy when engaging in political discussions and debates, as I explain in this blog post. For me, that means when I am talking with those who see things differently, I ask questions and listen hard to what people say—rather than to make arguments and try to convince others that they are wrong.

For us as a nation, we can use more empathy and respectful engagement. That’s why our office is spearheading the Ginsburg-Scalia Initiative, focused on encouraging civil discourse of the kind I saw firsthand between U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg and Scalia. Here’s a recent op-ed of mine about why that spirit matters to the future of our democratic republic. And here’s a podcast hosted by the National Association of Attorneys General, with myself and AG Lawrence Wasden, a conservative from Idaho, where we explain that our shared commitment to the Rule of Law is far more important than any issues on which we disagree.

We are living in challenging times. That’s why listening matters more than ever. I am thankful to live in Colorado where so many wonderful citizens exemplify that very spirit.