Here’s something you might not know about me, John: I’m a triathlete.

Now, let me tell you the backstory.

As members of Congress, we work to make sure our government accurately represents the millions of Americans who elected us. At the bare minimum, that includes making sure our government pays its bills on time and passes critical legislation. (Both seem harder than ever these days...)

Like most jobs, this carries a lot of stress. Everyone has a different way of relieving that stress.

For me, that was running.

Before my knees started bothering me, I used to run a fair amount — a carryover from playing soccer as a kid. I started cycling, and cross-training really helped.

Around that time, my chief of staff asked if I had any interest in doing a triathlon. I said yes.

A triathlon consists of three parts: Typically swimming, cycling, and long-distance running. In many ways, pushing myself to complete that first triathlon made me into a better, more effective representative.

• It taught me to work through chaos. During the swimming portion, I had to do my best to work through hundreds of people trying to swim over and around me at all times. That’s also an accurate description of what working in the House under a Republican majority feels like.


• It taught me to break up a big problem into smaller pieces. Instead of thinking through the total miles I’d have to swim, bike, and run, I broke it up into smaller chunks. As long as I made it past this first mile, I could do another one. And another. And another. That’s how I’ve tackled many of the pressing issues in Congress, too — one step at a time.


• And it taught me that anything was possible with a bit of effort. Like leading an impeachment process or investigating the attack on January 6, a triathlon is daunting — but not impossible. All of these can be accomplished with the right mindset.

I enjoyed that first triathlon enough to do several more after that. I’ve even biked 550 miles down the middle of California with AIDS/LifeCycle. And while it’s gotten even more difficult in the last several years to train, I still take all of those lessons with me.

I’m running to bring those values of hard work, determination, and results to the U.S. Senate, but I’ll need your help to get it done. Our election is on March 5. Will you help us reach the finish line by pitching in $3 today?

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Thank you,

Adam