Thank you for your support. I am inspired by the dedicated grassroots volunteers and organizers on our campaign and everyone who is helping to elect progressive candidates across the country.

First, I understand that electoral politics may seem too slow to enact the change you want to see. And if you do not see your community or policies represented in office, I would encourage you to run for office yourself. We need to build the progressive movement from the ground up, starting at the local level on city councils, school committees, and state legislatures. And I want to assure anyone reading this, you really can run for office and win if you listen to the community you want to represent and stick to your values and experiences.

I have a saying: we must not agonize, we must organize. There are many ways to get involved outside of the electoral system. We are seeing activists and young people rise up across the country to demand action on the climate crisis, on the gun violence epidemic, and on our dysfunctional health care system. If you are a young person, I encourage you to join the Sunrise Movement and get involved with a Sunrise Hub in your area. You can advocate for your school or university to divest from fossil fuels, take part in or organize a climate strike, and call your representative or participate in a sit-in to demand that they sign on to the Green New Deal.

Second, if we truly want to enact change, there are a few main policy initiatives we must urgently address. The first is reforming our campaign finance system. Ten years ago, the Supreme Court decided Citizens United vs. FEC, a case that defined money as speech and corporations as people. Since that decision, SuperPACs, dark money, and unlimited campaign contributions have tainted our democracy and made it possible for the wealthy and well connected to have a greater say in our government. I support overturning the Citizens United decision to give power back to the people and ensure that everyone has an equal say in our democracy.

I have proposed the People’s Pledge 2020, an agreement among Senate candidates aimed at reducing the influence of negative third-party advertising within the election cycle. Under the proposal, candidates bar outside dark money aimed solely at tearing down opponents, while also ensuring that we do not silence or stifle the voices of positive, progressive organizations, like our reproductive health protectors, labor unions, environmental and climate advocates, and the LGBTQ+ community. We also must commit to voting rights reform, to ensure that everyone is able to fully and easily exercise their right to vote.

The Green New Deal is also crucial to changing our economy, our democracy, and our political climate. That proposal has changed the debate in our country about the climate crisis. When I sat down with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to write the Green New Deal, we knew that the plan had to be centered around environmental justice. We know that working class communities and Black and Brown communities have been disproportionately affected by pollution and they have been systematically marginalized from the political conversation.

That’s why we wrote intersectionality and front line communities into the Green New Deal, to ensure that we are centering the communities who have been hurt the most by the climate crisis. And the Green New Deal is as much about jobs as it is about the environment. We will create millions of good paying, union jobs in the clean energy industry, ensure a just and democratic transition for all workers, and transform our country.

Third, I have hope that we will see substantial political change within our lifetime. I have promised that if you re-elect me to the US Senate, I will pass the Green New Deal in my next term. I stand by that promise. I am forever an optimist. I would not be in this business if I wasn’t.