Hi John,

There are only seven days between now and the end of the quarter – which means we need all the help we can get to meet our fundraising goal.

Believe me when I say that writing fundraising emails is not why I decided to run for Congress – but sadly, the need to raise money is an ever-present, time-consuming challenge for every candidate. The simple truth is that without money, campaigns cannot reach voters, organize communities, or run ads.

Rather than send you a big all-caps "DEADLINE" email, I want to share how your money will be used, and why it's so important to our campaign.

1. Campaigns are required to publicly report their finances once a quarter. These numbers are used by pundits, politicos, and journalists to assess the viability and strength of a campaign. To put it simply: what we raise impacts our ability to grow our team and message to voters. If we don't raise enough money, people won't take us seriously. And, we need all the support we can get.
    
2. Donations help us travel the district and meet voters. Since joining this race nearly a year ago, I've attended dozens of events across the district. As you can imagine, traveling back and forth between our two peninsulas isn't cheap — our campaign manager estimates it costs our team roughly $700 every time we head up north. Add in the advertising that we'll need to buy in advance of the August primary, and those expenses start to pile up.
    
3. This campaign is funded by the people, not the powers that be. Rep. Jack Bergman has the luxury of cashing more than $30,000 worth of checks from lobbyists to fund his campaign. I do not. I'm proud to be from this community, not Washington, D.C., but that does mean I'm playing a man down when it comes to keeping up with Rep. Bergman's fundraising.

The bottom line here is that this race is winnable — but only if we have the resources necessary to talk to voters.

So please, if you've been considering making a donation, now is the time to do so. Every moment between now and the end of the month will shape the success of this campaign for months to come. Chip in today and help flip MI-01 Blue.

Tuebor,

Callie

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Callie Barr
Candidate for Congress in Michigan's First District