John,
Last night didn’t go the way we hoped, and we came up short.
I want to thank each and every one of you for the support you have shown over the years. I never even considered running for office until Trump was elected. To me, that was for people who were more polished – who had more perfect lives. People of a certain pedigree.
But someone close to me said, “as a woman, if you wait your turn, you won’t get one.”
And what I found out over the last 6 years is that by and large it's true—there aren't a lot of people in Congress who are single moms; there aren’t many of us who live paycheck to paycheck; who go to the grocery store and understand how much a pack of bologna costs.
Americans are hungry for leaders who break the mold. We want honest leaders who are willing to call things like they see them. We want elected officials who will deliver truth to power and exact real accountability from big corporations and government bureaucrats. We want leaders who demand better from both parties – who want PROGRESS, not partisanship. Leaders whose bottom line is people, not profits.
That's why WE were able to turn heads in this campaign and make the people in power listen.
Let's be honest: I think all of us can agree, our government isn't working well for us.
So many of those in power are too interested in helping other powerful people than paying attention to the needs of everyday people. They are more interested in BEING an elected official than actually DOING anything to fix the problems everyday people face.
It's why billionaires fought so hard to keep me out of the Senate.
Special interests and the ultra wealthy like politics as it is today because they control the politicians. And, like we’ve seen in this campaign, they spend millions to defeat someone who will dilute their influence and disrupt the status quo. Because of you, we had the establishment running scared – withstanding 3 to 1 in TV spending, an onslaught of billionaires spending millions peddling lies, and our opponents spending more to boost the Republican than promoting his own campaign.
I've met so many people over the course of this race who tell me that they feel like their voices aren’t being heard by those who have the power. I’ll never stop fighting for all of those people.
Thank you, thank you – from the bottom of my heart.
Katie Porter
