Democrats all share the same beliefs — that government comes from the people, that values of inclusion, transparency and progress are what make Colorado great.

Over the past eight years, as the state representative from House District 6, I’ve brought your voice to the Capitol. I’ve listened to and learned from so many of you. Mostly we’ve agreed. Occasionally we have disagreed. But I know that as we continue to work together, our beliefs will make our future brighter than ever, because we believe in the people — not in special interests who try to buy their way into our political process. For me, democracy is not for sale.

I believe we must:

▪︎ Protect and preserve the gun safety laws I helped pass, and we must always stand up to the NRA. I’m proud that together, we looked the NRA in the eye two years ago and told them to get the hell out of our state. We will keep standing up to them until they understand that guns do kill people.

▪︎ Protect and extend LGBT rights for which I’ve fought for over 30 years. Together, we helped make Colorado a national leader on marriage equality, but the fight is not over. Our LGBT community deserves the same rights and protections as everyone else — we must keep going together.

▪︎ Protect a woman’s right to make her own health care choices. Because when we hear the backward plans of the Donald Trump Republican Party — those who want to put doctors and women behind bars for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms — we know this 40 year fight will never stop until we know we’ve won.

▪︎ Continue to reform our corrections system to make it more restorative than punitive. A justice system that punishes poorer citizens while the rich and corporations buy their way out of responsibility is broken and must be fixed.

▪︎ Allow people to make end of life choices, which I have championed for over two and a half years in the legislature. Because, when Coloradans like Charles Selsberg, who wrote a letter to the Denver Post about his exhausting end of life battle, want to make their own choices about their final days, it is our obligation to give them their rights.

▪︎ Reform our state constitution to get rid of our fiscal mess including TABOR. Because the only way to get our neighborhood schools funded, and our air and water protected, and to control the cost of college in Colorado, and to make sure every person has access to affordable health care is to end the fiscal disaster caused by those Colorado Springs Tea Party extremists.

▪︎ Banish special interest money from our campaigns so your voices are louder than theirs. I’m proud to have never accepted special interest contributions — not from PACs, and not from small donor committees that allow special interests to give more than 10 times the amount of money a citizen can give.

I have spent 30 years fighting these fights, because the only thing that matters is you — not me, and absolutely not the special interests.

I’m running for Senate District 31 because I want to continue contributing my experienced, effective and principled leadership to the people. If you live in SD31, or even if you don’t, I’d be honored to have your support.