Dear Friend,

First, thank you for your generous support in what we knew would be an important election.  Because of you, Ocean Champions invested more money to elect pro-ocean candidates than ever before.  And our investment payed off.

Many Congressional leaders on ocean conservation issues - the candidates endorsed and supported by Ocean Champions – won hard-fought victories.  In Tuesday’s general election, 22 of our endorsed candidates won while 4 lost.  Combined with results from the primaries, we forged 23 victories against only 7 defeats (the additional victory was a second defeat of “ocean enemy #1” Richard Pombo). 

Unfortunately, several strong champions were defeated, including Congressman Frank Kratovil (MD-D).  Considering that a few other champions were lost through retirement, there will be some work to do in the 112th Congress.

Importantly, the next Congress will be very different than the current one. Tuesday’s election clearly changes the priorities and focus of the House and the Senate.  With Republicans regaining the majority in the House, Committee Chairmanships will change hands, and the work of these Committees will be defined and guided by the ideologies of their new leaders.   In the coming days, we will share our thoughts on exactly what these changes will mean for ocean policy, but know that Ocean Champions is not only up for the challenge but uniquely positioned to protect past ocean policy victories against new attacks and to take advantage of the opportunities (and there will be a few) with the new 112th Congress.

However, we have unfinished business in the 111th Congress.  We’ve been able to drive a number of strong ocean bills to the brink of success, and when Congress returns for a so-called Lame-Duck session next week we will do everything in our power to ensure victories in areas such as:

• Improving coastal water quality by passing the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Act,
• Funding innovative programs to save threatened fisheries, and
• Establishing a national trust to fund ocean conservation projects

For The Oceans,

The Ocean Champions Team

P.S. Your support has never been more critical to seizing opportunities and protecting against threats to our oceans.  Please contribute to Ocean Champions today.