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Dear nadin,
We've just learned that The Denver Post has called the U.S. Senate race in favor of Michael Bennet. With the last of ballot returns being tabulated this morning, Bennet will end up with sufficient margin to avoid a recount. It's finally over, and progressives win!
In a year where the right wing's opposition to progress reached its high-water mark, it still wasn't enough: Colorado is still standing strong for our shared progressive values. Every one of terrible "Bad 3" ballot initiatives, as well as the birth control and abortion ban, the silly anti-"Obamacare" initiative, and the "bondsmen bailout"--all went down to a crushing defeat.
John Hickenlooper easily beat back a challenge from extremist ex-Rep. Tom Tancredo, giving Hickenlooper a stronger-than-expected mandate to protect Colorado's schools, health care, and transportation systems. And many progressive seats in the Colorado legislature that the right had targeted were saved.
With Bennet's victory, we can now say with certainty that the "Republican wave" broke on Colorado's Rocky Mountains. As The Denver Post put it this morning, our state has emerged as an "island" in a conservative storm.
Thanks to you. You stood up to defend Bennet from the right's smear campaigns. You signed petitions, appeared at events, and wrote letters seeking to hold Ken Buck accountable. You defied the expectations of pundits, and turned out the vote for Bennet, Hickenlooper and dozens of progressive state legislative candidates. You turned back these terrible ballot initiatives.
Because you didn't give up, Colorado has progressive victories to celebrate this morning, even as we console ourselves where it didn't go our way. And we still have the leadership we need to fight for progressive solutions to our state's pressing challenges. Working together, our future remains very bright.
Sincerely,
Kjersten Forseth, Executive Director ProgressNow Colorado
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