DENVER—Today, the Center for Western Priorities released its Winning the West: Election 2020 report, analyzing the trend of winning candidates highlighting their support for public lands and outdoor issues in order to connect with Mountain West voters.

Public lands—how they are used, their importance to local economies, and the way they define life in the West—were a key component of winning campaigns in 2020, with 19 of the 21 races tracked in six Western states featuring significant pro-public lands advertising or messaging. In high-profile races in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, the importance of outdoor issues has solidified to the extent that candidates with consistently pro-public lands positions have prevailed in most close elections.

This year, support for public lands and conservation emerged stronger than ever. Polling shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the value that Westerners place on the outdoors, with 34 percent of voters saying that the importance of public lands, parks, and wildlife issues increased for them during the pandemic. 

“Over the past few election cycles, we’ve watched the importance of outdoor issues steadily rise,” said Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala. “2020’s election results solidified that trend, with voters making it clear that to win elections in the West, candidates must show their commitment to protecting public lands.”

In the campaigns analyzed in the report, winning candidates leveraged public lands and outdoor issues to gain support while using the mountains and outdoor spaces of the Mountain West to serve as the backdrop of numerous campaign ads and pro-public lands messages on social media. Candidates across party lines celebrated legislative victories on conservation issues and criticized opponents for lackluster records on protections for public lands. Notably, extreme anti-public lands positions, such as selling off national public lands to private interests or turning them over to state control, were absent from this year’s competitive races.

Public lands and conservation issues were featured in some of the races that rose to national prominence, including the Colorado senate race between former Governor John Hickenlooper and Senator Cory Gardner and the Montana senate race between Governor Steve Bullock and Senator Steve Daines. 

Going forward, we expect the influence of the growing “outdoor voting bloc”—currently estimated at more than 2 million voters across the West—to continue shaping campaigns. As newly elected officials step into office, voters will be looking for campaign messages to be translated into legislative action on public lands.

The Center for Western Priorities’ Winning the West campaign is intended to educate candidates and campaigns about how important it is to show strong support for public lands and access to outdoor spaces, particularly in battleground Mountain West states. To learn more, visit WinningTheWest2020.org. 

For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. To speak with an expert on public lands, contact Aaron Weiss at 720-279-0019 or . Sign up for Look West to get daily public lands and energy news sent to your inbox.

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