Friends, how closely have you been watching the Republican presidential primary?

While it might be a bit painful to follow along, the ins and outs of these GOP contests are actually incredibly important – and not just for determining who President Biden is up against in November.

The results of these primaries, the issues talked about on the ground and in the polls, and the media coverage of all of it impact races all the way down the ticket, all over the country – including my reelection campaign against my own MAGA opponent.

(Speaking of my campaign – I’m still working to boost our January fundraising numbers after the news of my opponent’s half-million dollar haul. Can you help by chipping in $5 or $10 before our end-of-month deadline?)

Back to the GOP primaries: In the weeks and months after the January 6th insurrection, Republican leaders talked a big game about standing up to Donald Trump and ensuring he never gets elected president again.

Unfortunately, that was total BS.

Those same Republicans realized Trump still had a lot of power – from money to cultural impact to control over the party infrastructure. So they promptly lost their spines and fell back in line.

And the few Republicans who decided to run against Trump for president? They’ve still never actually faced Trump directly, thanks to media outlets letting him off the hook for every single debate. And let’s not forget – the ones who have dropped out of the race went straight back to Trump, endorsing his campaign and begging for forgiveness.

The fact of the matter is that Republican leadership – from Mitch McConnell to Kevin McCarthy to the RNC – abdicated their responsibility to push Trump out of the party, and they did it to keep a grasp on their own power.

Their cowardice and personal political ambition made space for countless Trump-loving, right-wing extremists to rise up, find a platform, and run for office – just like my opponent.

Now, it’s up to us to deliver the reckoning.

We might not agree on all the issues at hand, and we might be sick of hearing about Donald Trump. But we have to keep talking about his dangerous rhetoric, his anti-democratic plans, and the crimes he’s being accused of.

We have to make the stakes crystal clear – not just at the national level if Trump wins, but in every race where a MAGA, right-wing candidate is vying for power.

And of course, we have to defeat Trump and every one of his acolytes at the ballot box in November.

To do all that, my team and I are stepping up our fundraising and getting more aggressive with our voter outreach plans – but I need your help. Will you chip in before we close the books on January?

Thanks for being here.

-Sara