It’s Official!
Four years ago, I spoke to you during a time of great uncertainty, eroding confidence in government, and a shameful lack of respect from Washington for the rule of law and our civil rights.
Four years ago, I shared with my deeply held belief in our nation’s promise of freedom and opportunity for all. As I explained, that promise is personal to me because my mom and my grandmother were liberated by the U.S. Army after surviving the Holocaust and were welcomed by the United States. That welcome led to untold opportunities, including my path of service as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as an advisor to President Barack Obama in the White House, and, now, as your Attorney General.
Four years ago, I pledged to serve as the People’s Lawyer. Your support powered our campaign, enabling me to serve as a stronger Attorney General, as a fairer Attorney General, and, yes, as a Weiser Attorney General. Thank you.
As I stand for re-election, I am now running not only on a promise of what I will do—but also on our record of what we have done, the results we delivered, and the unfinished work we still have yet to accomplish.
Our record is one of engaging every single county in Colorado, listening to the concerns of all Coloradans, and delivering results. And the results we delivered follow the core promise of our democratic republic—to preserve a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
As your Attorney General, I stood up to defend our democracy and the rights of all Coloradans. I did this at a time when the Trump Administration continued to tear at the fabric of our democratic institutions, our civil rights, and the rule of law itself. That work included defending Colorado and our laws from legal attacks, including when I personally argued a major case before the United States Supreme Court to defend Colorado’s election laws. Over the last three years, we have stood up against voter intimidation, fought successfully for LGBTQ equality at the Supreme Court, and protected the DREAMERs, again, winning at the Supreme Court. And when the attorney general from Texas sought to overturn another state’s election results—I said hell no and fought successfully against the threat to our democratic republic from partisan games and conspiracy theories. The importance of that work, most unfortunately, continues.
As a candidate, I promised to make addressing the opioid epidemic a top priority. We did just that, holding accountable Big Pharma, irresponsible companies, and corporate executives who deceptively marketed addictive prescription pills. This illegal conduct fueled the opioid epidemic, devastated lives and families, and set the stage for deadly fentanyl to enter our communities. Because of our lawsuits, we recovered $400 million for Colorado to strike a major blow against the addiction crisis, supporting desperately needed public education, drug treatment, and drug recovery. And we continue to work hard to disrupt the fentanyl supply chain—removing poison-laced pills from our streets and interrupting high level drug trafficking rings.
We have and will continue to always work towards a more just and more effective criminal justice system. That work includes building on our work addressing the opioid crisis. It means finding better solutions for those struggling with addiction or their mental health. It also means providing alternatives for low-level offenders who don’t belong in jail or prison, including young people who can benefit from successful diversion programs. We will keep working to end the cycle of people being re-incarcerated by ensuring those who served their time can rejoin our communities and support their families, through better access to affordable housing and fair employment opportunities and mental health treatment. We will also keep working to hold accountable those who prey on Coloradans, including those involved in a robbery spree that targeted our neighbors from minority communities, those who stole our identities and defrauded our unemployment insurance system, and those who battered—or killed—their significant others or children. And it means ensuring dangerous firearms are out of reach from those that are mentally disturbed or who pose serious threats to themselves or others.
My life’s work is rooted in protecting consumers from unfair competition by monopolists and stopping illegal actions of irresponsible companies and fraudsters. As Attorney General, we led the charge against irresponsible companies who deceived Coloradans, bringing back over $35 million to Coloradans and $35 million in student loan relief. We also sued Big Tech companies, leading the State AG suit against Google and investigating abuses by Facebook, including actions that harm our kids. We also pushed for new laws to protect the public. Those new laws include the first major update of our consumer protection laws in a generation, the toughest law against deceptive auto-renewing services, and one of the nation’s first comprehensive data privacy laws to protect Coloradans’ information from being bought, sold, and harvested without consumers’ say-so.
And, finally, we have protected Colorado’s land, air, and water. Working at the federal level, we successfully challenged rollbacks of key protections, such as the Methane Rule and the Clean Car Rule. We have also held polluters accountable and took action to protect our water quality. We have successfully pushed through new legislation to go after criminal polluters that harm Colorado’s streams, rivers, and lakes. Moreover, we took a strong stand that, in this time of climate change, we must manage our water the right way. That means promoting smart infrastructure across our state. And it means standing firm against companies seeking to take from the San Luis Valley, harming rural farming communities and local agricultural economies.
When I last spoke before you, I was working to become just the third Democrat to serve as Colorado’s Attorney General since the Truman Administration. These past three years have shown us all how absolutely critical to have a Democrat as Colorado’s Attorney General. Our work defending our democracy and civil rights, addressing the opioid epidemic, improving our criminal justice system, defending consumers, and protecting our land, air, and water is important and we need it to continue. That only happens if we win this election.
I cannot continue to serve and continue the important work we have to do without your help. I deeply appreciate you being on my team and helping me serve as the People’s Lawyer. Four years later, I believe ever more strongly in our nation’s commitment to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And I still believe that Colorado will be a model for our nation as we focus on serving all of the people of our state. And, finally, I believe that we need a stronger Attorney General, a fairer Attorney General, and, yes, a Weiser Attorney General.
Thank you for your engagement and your important work.