“Stop What You're Doing and Watch This”: Intense Praise for Apocalypse-Themed Climate 2020 Campaign Ad

“Stop what you’re doing and watch this—all the way through.”

That was the reaction Monday from youth-led climate group Sunrise Movement to a gripping new apocalypse-themed campaign ad rolled out by Democrat Andrew Romanoff, who’s running in Colorado’s 2020 primary race for U.S. Senate.

“I have never ever seen anything like this before.” —journalist Eric HolthausEntitled “Home,” the four-minute video opens with an apocalyptic scene in Colorado Springs in “the not-so-distant future” in which a family appears to be taking shelter from the ravages of the climate crisis.

“I just hope we can see the sunshine again one day,” a young girl says.

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The ad—the first of Romanoff’s primary campaign—also features a clip of former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Romanoff’s strongest opponent in the Democratic contest. Hicklooper is seen testifying before the U.S. Senate in 2013 when he sat down beside representatives of Halliburton to assure fracking’s safety. In addition to footage of recent climate disasters, the ad also features clips of Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg as well as Green New Deal champions like Sunrise and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Romanoff, a former state legislator, urges voters to seize this “once or perhaps last in a lifetime chance to rescue the world we know” and act on the climate crisis, which he calls “a catastrophe of our own making.”

“We can choose a different path,” says Romanoff.

Sunrise was just part of a large chorus of progressives singing the new ad’s praises Monday.

“Those who say it cannot be done, should not interupt those who are already doing it.” —Andrew Romanoff, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate

Journalist Shaun King said it “may be the most powerful campaign ad of 2019.”

Climate activist Anna Jane Joyner declared it the “most powerful political ad I’ve ever seen.”

This “is the most powerful political ad about climate change I’ve ever seen,” said EndClimateSilence.org founder Dr. Genevieve Guenther. A “new world is emerging, it just is.”

“I have never ever seen anything like this before,” said meteorologist and journalist Eric Holthaus.

Romanoff’s platform includes addressing the climate crisis by banning fracking and switching to renewables to meet all electricity needs by 2035. His platform also calls for raising the minimum wage and supports Medicare for All.

Hickenlooper and Romanoff are vying for the seat currently held by Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican. Gardner, for his part, called Romanoff’s ad “insane.”

In the ad, Romanoff directly confronts those standing in the way of the Green New Deal and other calls for bold action by saying, “Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are already doing it.”