Imagine hearing a knock on your door and opening it to find actor Jane Fonda campaigning for a local election candidate.
▶ Watch Video: Why Jane Fonda is helping campaign for local political candidates
Imagine hearing a knock on your door and opening it to find actor Jane Fonda campaigning for a local election candidate.
That’s how the 86-year-old actor and activist is spending her time this election season. She’s campaigning around the country for local candidates who support action on climate change, building on her years of climate-related protests.
Fonda told CBS News that the campaigning work felt so necessary that she told her agent she wouldn’t be taking any acting jobs this year, to make sure she had time to canvass.
“This year I said to my agent ‘I’m sorry, I can’t work.’ When the election is happening that’s going to determine the future, I couldn’t do it,” Fonda, a two-time Academy Award winner, explained. “I couldn’t do it. Next year I’ll do it.”
Fonda has hand-picked over 130 lower-level candidates who will stand up to the fossil fuel industry using her political action committee, JanePAC.
“This is the last election that can have a major effect on climate,” Fonda said.
Many of the candidates Fonda is supporting are running for under-the-radar offices like Portland City Council or a school board seat in Virginia.