John,

We’re closing in on the final four weeks of this race, and I need to level with you.

I expect the other side to play dirty. That's what happened last time around, and they are at it again.

Last cycle, in the final days of the election, an anonymous, well-funded group started spreading awful and completely false rumors about me and our campaign to tens of thousands of voters. Friends of mine were sent text messages with nasty, outright lies about me. It was equal parts horrifying and infuriating.

And when they counted the votes on Election Night, I lost by only 2%—just over 2,000 votes.

This time around, I refuse to put up with nonsense like that from Dan Lipinski or any of his allies. With your help, we’ll be ready for them. Will you chip in right now and help fund our rapid-response operation to make sure we can beat back anybody who tries to smear our campaign?

When I decided to run again, I knew I was opening myself to the same kind of vicious attacks. I definitely thought twice about whether it was worth it to put my family through that again.

But that’s how machine politics has always worked: They fear monger, they lie about their opponents, and then they bully and intimidate.

If they think they can bully me, they clearly didn’t do their homework. I’ve spent years taking on bullies, and I’m not going to start backing down now.

So let them throw their worst at us. We’ll fight back with everything we’ve got. Make a donation today and let’s make sure they don’t get away with smear campaigns in this election.

Thank you,

Marie