It’s no secret that I’m not independently wealthy. In fact, my assumption is that tonight, Rep. John Bradford—the current GOP frontrunner for Treasurer and my likely general election opponent—is probably a lot more relaxed than I am. After all, he started out his campaign by casually loaning himself a quarter of a million dollars, and if he starts to run out, there’ll be a lot more where that came from.
I don’t have that luxury.
I’ll be honest, I hate sending emails like this. I hate it when politicians act like the sky will fall down and the mountains will crumble to their very foundations if they don’t hit XYZ fundraising goal by the end of the day. Usually, I wonder if the number they tell me they need is even based on anything or if they just came up with something catchy that they hoped would inspire exactly the amount of urgency they were looking for, but didn’t seem unachievable, either.
But the truth is, we really still need to raise another $1,366.42 by midnight tonight to stay on track for our September goal, and I can’t just write myself a check for what we need to win this race. Everything I raise comes from grassroots donors like you, and that’s a real number that represents real needs that our campaign has. Running for office isn’t cheap. The buttons and literature I hand out at events and the gas in my car to get there costs money. The work my team does so that I can run a professional campaign costs money. Even sending you this email costs money.
The sky may not fall down if we don’t hit that goal, but it will mean we’ll have to do less of all the things we’re doing, and the hard part about that is they’re working. In just the last few days on the campaign trail, I’ve traveled from Rocky Mount, to Raleigh, to Lenoir, to Asheville, and I’ve seen firsthand how receptive people are to our message that they’re worth investing in, that they’re worth our state’s time, that they deserve the opportunity to live a better life. They’ve never heard a candidate for Treasurer say that before, and it would be a terrible, terrible loss if we couldn’t afford to keep amplifying that message loud and clear to every corner of the state.
I would love it if our politics operated on a more level playing field, I really would, but that’s not the world we live in, I’m relying on you to ensure we don’t fall behind. I know I ask a lot of you, I really do, but if you haven’t already contributed today, and if you can afford it, would you please consider chipping in anything you can? It would really mean a lot.
