John,

On Sunday night, I got the text from my sister nobody ever wants to get, ""Seeing movie at Easton AMC. Was evacuated, shootings occurred. We ran away from the area, along with many, many people. Waiting it out, so we can get the car and go home." My heart sank! I was absolutely terrified! While I waited anxiously for more information, my mind raced about what could be happening, whether my sister and brother inlaw and those around them were safe.

Easton is right outside of my district, in Columbus, just 20 minutes from me. Like most incidences of gun violence, this happened at a time and place where no one would expect it as Easton is an upscale shopping center.

The shooters were 13 years old, 13! This is what our country has come to, especially with the rise in hate speech and fearmongering. Leadership starts at the top, and we must do better.

Just one day before the shooting in Easton, news broke that a racist murderer who initially targeted Black students at a nearby school, was thwarted by security, so he changed course to kill Black people at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, killing three. My heart breaks for the victims and their families.

But what is no longer news is that mass shootings and horrific acts of gun violence are happening across America at an unprecedented and alarming frequency.

The shooting in Easton is also especially scary for me and members of my family, as we are approaching the 23 year anniversary of my aunt being shot and killed by her husband in the parking lot of the elementary school where she worked. The shootings over the weekend, and the evacuation at the theater where my sister was casually going to take in a movie, are a stark reminder of the terrible trauma that lingers from gun violence, so much of it preventable.

One of the reasons that I am in this race against Jim Jordan is because not only do the people of my district, and the entire state, suffer from his complete lack of leadership and unwillingness to get anything done in Congress—Jordan is a huge part of the problem. He peddles dangerous conspiracy theories around guns and fights commonsense gun legislation, all while using the issue of gun violence to manipulate the voters and keep us divided.

Jim Jordan and the rest of the fearmongering GOP would rather keep profiting politically and materially from dark money groups like the NRA than work in a bipartisan fashion to keep our children safe. They would rather we accept the status quo as a fact of life, as if we have always lived like this and we always will, this is wrong and despicable. We have to call them out and continue to fight as hard as we can for our freedoms—the freedom to live in peace and to be safe, without the fear of being gunned down for who we are or what we believe.

We’ll never be free or safe with gun lobby tools like Jim Jordan in power. From my family to yours, I am asking for your support for my campaign to take him down. Will you join the fight by donating $25 to help me defeat Jim Jordan, so I can fight for smart, bipartisan, commonsense gun legislation in Congress?

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Together, we can take steps to make our society safer, and more sane, by getting rid of fearmongering stooges like Jim Jordan. Thank you for your support.

-Tamie