FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2020
MN climate group responds to election by urging action
MN350 Action applauds the success of our endorsed candidates in last week’s elections, as well as the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
At least 24 candidates endorsed as climate champions by MN350 Action won their races after committing to prioritize climate action.
“The success of these candidates unequivocally demonstrates that Minnesotans are not interested in sitting and watching our climate fall apart,” said MN350 Action’s Grant Stevensen. “Voters took a stand for our land, a stand for our water, a stand for our futures. The victories of many of our endorsed candidates make clear our shared priority of an environmentally just future.”
In 2019, 86 Minnesota legislators voted to deny that climate change is happening. Hundreds of MN350 Action volunteers worked tirelessly to defeat those legislators in the state House and Senate. Although the state Senate may continue to be an obstacle to common-sense solutions, MN350 Action is still ready to continue its aggressive agenda to fight climate change.
“The result in the state Senate does not mean we are slowing our efforts,” Stevensen said. “As we celebrate the success of our endorsed candidates, we also prepare to push for sustained climate justice action at a local level. Real, progressive climate policy will not happen with one election, it will happen every single day with the help of advocacy and organizing at a local level.”
For the past four years, as the Trump administration continually expressed disregard for the environment, MN350 Action fought to protect our climate and to help build a healthy world for the future generations. MN350 Action and its companion organization MN350 have led campaigns to push for more electric vehicles, stopping the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline project and moving toward 100 percent clean energy.
MN350 Action calls on the new Biden administration to uphold its commitments to take immediate steps to limit the harm being done to our environment.
“We’re moving now from a season of politics, which is the art of the possible, to a season of organizing, which is the art of making more possible,” Stevensen said. “A Joe Biden presidency opens up avenues of making progress that were closed for the past four years. We are exploring how to harness this national shift and our growing climate justice base to change the conversation in Minnesota. Regardless of the makeup of the legislature, the people are always the majority.”
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ABOUT
MN350 Action is the political and advocacy home for Minnesotans concerned about protecting our climate. It is the companion organization to MN350, a statewide group with 20,000 supporters working to make Minnesota a national leader in a just transition to a clean energy economy.