John — I’m Eugene Vindman, the official Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 7th district. Give me just a moment to tell you the story of a phone call that changed everything.

My brother Alex and I used to serve on the White House National Security Council. I was the senior ethics official on the Council.

Eugene Vindman served in the U.S. Army and the National Security Council. Use of his job titles and photographs during service does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Army or the National Security Council.

In 2019, Alex overheard a phone call in which President Trump attempted to extort our allies in Ukraine. Trump threatened to withhold military aid unless President Zelenskyy investigated his political rival.

After Alex reported the call to me, we both blew the whistle on Trump. We reported Trump’s corrupt phone call up the chain of command, and it led to his impeachment.

Even though the decision to blow the whistle on Donald Trump was the right thing to do, it cost my brother and me our military careers after the former-president retaliated against us. But I am not done serving.

I’m running for Congress in Virginia to fight back against Trump and the far-right Republicans who enable his abuse of power and attacks on our Democracy.

And more than that, I’m running to push our country forward across the board. To restore abortion rights everywhere, act on climate change, and lower costs for working families.

So here’s the deal. If we win Virginia’s 7th district, we win a highly competitive swing district and make it that much more likely that Democrats take back the House.

And if we take back the House, we can begin to make progress on those issues while safeguarding against any Republican attempts to roll back our rights.

So please:

Split a contribution between me and Aaron Rouse to support my campaign for Congress. Help us build a real grassroots movement in defense of democracy.

Thanks for hearing me out, John. I hope I can count on your support.

— Eugene Vindman