If you had told me when I was a recent college grad volunteering to run MySpace accounts for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign that someday President Obama would be endorsing me…I wouldn’t have believed you.

But life has a way of taking unexpected paths. Within a decade, MySpace was dead, Obama had served two historic terms, and I was still using social media to make change — from mobilizing over 30,000 MoveOn volunteers to help elect Democrats, to advocating for responsible privacy laws in the tech industry.

Then, in 2018, I ran to be the first Black lieutenant governor of Michigan. Ten years after I first volunteered to elect him as our first Black president, Barack Obama came to my hometown of Detroit to support my campaign.

A few days later, Gretchen Whitmer and I flipped Michigan blue.

I often think back to that first rally with Obama. Even when there was silence, it felt like the room was buzzing. All around me, I saw determination. Excitement. Hope. I saw my hometown, ready to show up for change.

I saw the faces of elders who thought they’d never see America elect a Black president, let alone that they might shake his hand. I saw the wonder in the eyes of kids sitting on their parent’s shoulders, realizing they could be anything they wanted to be — because after all, Obama did. Garlin did. Why not them?

Representation is important. Elected officials from diverse backgrounds uplift the stories of our communities in ways only we can, lifting every boat with us.

I’m proud that the DLGA is leading the nation in electing diverse leaders — over 75% of our Democratic lt. governors are women and people of color — but we need your help to keep going. I’m asking personally: can you chip in $10 or more before our huge End-of-Year Fundraising Deadline to help us elect Democrats across the country in 2024?

Thanks for helping us build the world we want to live in.

Sincerely,

Garlin Gilchrist
Lt. Governor of Michigan