Brady Campaign Endorses Gun Safety Champions for Governor and Congress

Washington, D.C., July 3, 2018 - With more and more electoral candidates across the country placing gun safety at the hearts of their campaigns, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence announced its next set of endorsements for the 2018 election. These four candidates join the previously announced Brady-backed nominees.

For governor, the Brady Campaign endorsed Rep. Jared Polis in Colorado.

• Rep. Jared Polis has made clear during his race for governor that the fight for gun safety isn’t about politics, but rather about the lives of children. During his time in Congress, Rep. Polis cosponsored bills to expand Brady background checks, outlaw assault weapons, and pass extreme risk protection orders. Rep. Polis also supports banning bump stocks and allowing the CDC to conduct research on gun violence. Through words and actions, Rep. Polis has shown that he is ready to lead Colorado as the state’s governor.

The Brady Campaign also endorsed three candidates for Congress: Jason Crow in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, Antonio Delgado in New York’s 19th Congressional District, and State Sen. Jennifer Wexton in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. All three candidates are challenging NRA-favored incumbents in races identified by Brady as high-priority targets.

• Jason Crow (CO-06) is a former Army Ranger who knows from firsthand experience what guns are capable of in the wrong hands. A strong supporter of common-sense gun reform, Crow supports banning military-style assault weapons and closing loopholes that currently allow one in five guns to be sold without a background check. As he looks to represent the district that includes Aurora, the site of the 2012 mass shooting that killed 12 people at a local movie theater, Crow is dedicated to improving gun safety to keep children, families, and communities safe.
• Antonio Delgado (NY-19) has made clear to voters that gun violence is a public health crisis. Delgado supports expanding background checks to prevent domestic abusers and violent criminals from purchasing firearms, ending the sales of bump stocks, and rejecting the influence of the corporate gun lobby. Delgado has firmly stated that gun laws need to reflect the needs of real gun owners, rather than the agenda promoted by the NRA.
• Sen. Jennifer Wexton (VA-10) has shown that she will fight for common-sense gun laws at the federal level. She has advocated for expanding background checks, closing gun show loopholes, funding the study of gun violence as a public health epidemic, and banning military-style assault weapons. Having fought for these same legislative goals in the Virginia State Senate, Sen. Wexton has shown she’s the strong proponent of gun safety needed in the House of Representatives.

“Just last week with the launch of Team ENOUGH’s report cards, we saw how close key bills in the House and Senate are to forcing votes on gun safety,” stated Brady Campaign co-president Kris Brown. “If we can flip even just a few key seats in the House and secure strong allies leading states around the country, we can and will see tremendous advances in our gun safety efforts. We look forward to working with and supporting these five candidates all the way to victory in November.”

This election cycle, the Brady Campaign is focused on working with and supporting candidates throughout the country who are committed to preventing gun violence. A heavy focus is on whether candidates support Brady’s three-point plan, including expanding Brady background checks, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and passing extreme risk laws.

A resurgent Brady PAC is supporting candidates who commit to making gun violence prevention a top priority and is working to replace candidates who refuse to prioritize the safety of the American public. Brady is doing so through the candidate endorsement process and holding candidates accountable to their questionnaire answers. Brady PAC will target races across the country in support of such candidates, especially in those races targeting candidates who put gun industry profits before the safety of their constituents.

Brady is also focusing heavily on voter registration, particularly of young voters through its student initiative, Team ENOUGH. In addition to its recently-released Congressional report cards on gun safety issues, the student-led group will be holding voter registration events throughout the summer and will work to educate and mobilize high school and university students from now until November. The group is also inviting students across the country to form their own Team ENOUGH groups and host nonpartisan candidate forums.

Last November’s elections in Virginia and New Jersey, where multiple Brady-backed candidates won on a clear platform of gun safety, demonstrated that voters are engaging on the issue and are rejecting those supported by the NRA. And with recent polling showing that half of Americans want gun safety to be Congress’s top priority, it’s clear that this issue will be a leading one throughout the 2018 campaign.

Further endorsements will be announced in the weeks and months to come.