Today, the voters of Colorado can stand proud, as the statewide numbered measures (60, 61, 62, 63, 101, 102) along with the anti-immigrant Lakewood Impound ordinance (click here) all went to down in a huge defeat! With most measures failing to come within 30% of approval, this was a huge win for the progressive community of Colorado, and especially a huge win for the Latino and immigrant voters who turned out in large numbers to show their strength as a community.For the last 6 months, CIRC has been working with our partners in Engage Colorado and the Latino Working Group to contact voters throughout the state. We are proud to have been a part of such an amazing campaign, which all together made over 1 million contacts with Colorado voters!
In Colorado and nationally, this election once again showed that those attempting to run on an immigrant-bashing platform are going to lose. We saw it here in Colorado with voters saying no to the extreme policies of Tom Tancredo and Ken Buck in favor of the more practical and humane solutions offered by Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper. We also saw it very clearly in Nevada, where Harry Reid won reelection despite a strong push by Sharon Angle, who wins the prize for the most ridiculous anti-immigrant ads of this election cycle.
Latino and immigrant voters deserve the credit for turning out and voting for their children and their communities. Polling by Latino Solutions shows that Latinos supported Reid by 90%, Barbara Boxer by 86%, and Michael Bennet by 81%! These incredible numbers should give our leaders the backbone to pursue policies that focus on helping immigrant communities, rather than creating more enforcement-only legislation.
It is time for this nation to step up and do the right thing. It is time for our leaders to act like responsible servants of the people. Instead of promoting hate and intolerance for those among us, it is time to come together as a nation and pass immigration reform that provides security for our borders, and a path to citizenship for those law-abiding and hardworking people among us who are living in fear every day of their lives.
