Longmont Times Call/Boulder Daily Camera
Ella Cobb
For Colorado House Rep. Tracey Bernett, running for office in 2022 feels more like a calling rather than a choice.
“From a very young age, my mother instilled in me a passion for making the world a better place. I know that sounds a bit pollyannaish, but it’s true,” Bernett said.
Now, she wants to continue her work towards making Colorado a better place.
Bernett, who is currently finishing her first term in the Colorado House representing District 12, which includes Louisville, Lafayette and Longmont, announced in a news release last month that she is running for a second two-year term.
According to the press release sent out Nov. 17, Bernett, a Democrat, has supported nine bills during her first term, eight of which have to do with climate change and the environment.
Though Bernett is highly focused on climate change, her political platform is centered around three other components — environmentalism, education and equity.
“Before I was a representative, I worked as an engineer for years. I’m used to thinking in formulas. So, of course, my platform for my campaign is a formula as well: the three E’s,” Bernett said.
Bernett’s son has suffered from asthma his entire life, and even survived a near-fatal asthma attack when he was a toddler. Each year, as wildfires would rage across Colorado, Bernett began to wonder how much climate change was impacting her son’s health.
In 2013, Bernett had a close friend nearly drown after the St. Vrain river flooded and swept through her Longmont home.
“That’s when I began to realize how much of a big deal climate change was to me and how much it was affecting my loved ones and my community,” Bernett said.
Shortly after, Bernett decided that running for office was what she needed to do in order to make sure that she would have the chance to impart the life lessons her mother taught her all those years ago.
If elected to serve a second term, Bernett says that she wishes to maintain the successes of the last year and continue to strive towards improvements in “education, air quality, climate change and other issues that face the residents of eastern Boulder County.”