Despite the efforts of the do-nothing obstructionist Republicans currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Joe Biden has emerged as a beacon of progress. In his three years in office, Biden has overseen the most ambitious and successful legislative agenda in nearly seven decades.

On his first day in office, Biden ensured the United States rejoined the Paris climate accords, signaling the start of a new era of U.S. politics in which the existential threat of climate change would be treated with the urgency it deserves. Since then, he has backed it up with bold and innovative initiatives to combat climate change while promoting sustainable economic growth.

In his first year in office, Biden championed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion dollar package—the largest investment in U.S. infrastructure in decades—that has not only helped repair roads, bridges and critical infrastructure but has invested in clean energy and the technology and jobs of tomorrow. The bill provides massive investment in sustainable technologies including renewable energy, electric vehicles and environmental resilience.It also has driven much needed economic vitality to America’s towns and cities. It’s America investing in itself.

Among the bill’s provisions are $108 billion for building, maintaining and improving access to clean public transit infrastructure, including low- and zero-emissions buses and trains. It also provides money to improve service and accessibility for historically marginalized communities such as people with disabilities, low income and tribal communities. And here in Southern Nevada, a $3 billion investment in the Brightline rail system will help move Westerners between Los Angeles and Las Vegas quickly, safely and with fewer emissions.

Building on the success of the infrastructure bill, Biden championed the CHIPS act, which effectively rebuilt the U.S. semiconductor and computer chip industry by creating trillions of dollars in new private investments and tens of thousands of new jobs, all while weakening the Chinese economy. This stands in sharp contrast to Trump, whose failed promises to tackle infrastructure became a running joke and whose reckless trade war with China cost nearly a quarter of a million U.S. jobs, according to the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC).

Biden also introduced his 30 x 30 initiative during his first year in office, a groundbreaking plan to conserve 30% of America’s natural land waterways by 2030. As part of the plan he has created five new national monuments and restored three others, protecting approximately 5,500 square miles (3.52 million acres) of land and nearly 5,000 square miles of marine habitat.

The protected land includes the newly created Avi Kwa Ame national monument here in Southern Nevada and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, a nearly million-acre national monument in Arizona.

Each of the national monument designations were made with the input and consultation of local tribal and community members, who had a natural advocate in U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.

While Republicans in Congress and conservative members of the judiciary have blocked several of Biden’s proposals from taking effect, including a landmark student loan forgiveness proposal, Biden has successfully expanded access to student financial aid and income driven-repayment plans, created greater federal oversight and investigative authority over private prisons, signed the first significant piece of gun control legislation in decades and forgiven hundreds of millions of dollars in student debt. The administration has also proposed ambitious plans to make community college tuition-free and increase access to affordable higher education.

All of this was accomplished against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID pandemic and the lawlessness of Trump’s MAGA extremists and the related do-nothing GOP-led congress.

Unlike the previous administration, Biden took the dangers of the pandemic—both to people and to businesses—seriously. That’s why he implemented a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination and testing program while also extending COVID protections for small businesses, student loan borrowers, and low-income Americans. Thanks to his leadership, the United States recovered from the pandemic faster than most other countries and Americans were able to get back to work while enjoying public gatherings and events once again.

Yes, in the aftermath of the pandemic there was a significant increase in inflation because of supply chain and manufacturing issues (not unlike the end of World War II), but the Biden administration has successfully managed that and inflation is retreating. He avoided a predicted recession, delivered record jobs growth and a soaring stock market. It’s amazing how little credit this administration gets for its remarkable results.

In short, President Biden has restored a sense of sanity to the White House that simply wasn’t present during the Trump years.

Yes, he is a bit odd and his age worries many people. There have also been missteps like the tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan and failure to successfully pass comprehensive immigration reform—failures can be chalked up to a combination of error, misreading the situation and being forced to work with a Congress that refuses to negotiate.Yet even in these “failed” policy arenas, Biden has shown greater compassion and humanity than his predecessor by ending policies that separate children from their families and fighting against the use of border barriers designed to injure and maim those seeking a better life. His accomplishments are noteworthy, especially in the environment of violence, uncertainty and obstructionism that has gripped the United States since 2016—an environment created and cheered on by Donald Trump.

For those reasons, he deserves an overwhelmingly large turnout in the primary, even when running effectively unopposed. As the third primary in the nation, Nevadans have the opportunity to send a clear message to community leaders, activists and donors on the left that Biden is worth investing in. Perhaps more importantly, we can send a message to Biden’s opponents, on both ends of the political spectrum, that he has earned our support, the nomination and a second term in the White House.

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