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Friend,
Thank you so much for being a part of our campaign for Attorney General. I greatly appreciate the trust you put in me. I'm sorry we couldn't get it done. But I truly believe that the work we did in this election to build a team of Missourians who want something better for our home will make a difference. I'll never be able to thank you enough.
Yesterday, I spent all day at polling places talking to voters. I got to help a few vote, including one man named Russell.
Russell is a 91-year-old veteran who until recently was paralyzed. He fought to walk again and, after intensive surgery and rehabilitation, he was able to walk himself out of his old Pontiac toward the polling place. When we told him there was a curbside option, his eyes lit up. "Yeah!" He took a seat on the passenger side to vote.
When he was done, I helped him get back to the driver seat. He said, "Mr. Gross, I want to be a volunteer for you." He said veterans just need a little more help from our state, and, when I told him that I wanted the Attorney General's Office to connect more veterans with legal services, he said that's where he wanted to be.
I wanted to be there with him. We'll talk next week and see if there's something else we can do.
Russell was one of many, many people I got to meet this election traveling throughout Missouri. 61,000 miles. Around 400 meetings. One rescued dog who won the hearts of a lot of people, including one guy yesterday who, after meeting Liberty Belle, said, "I'm literally voting for you because of this dog."
There will be a lot of opinions on what happened in Missouri. I don't know the answer, but I have some thoughts. I've lived her my whole life, and I've been around the state a lot over the last 10 years. Pretty sure I just blew another transmission on this campaign.
I think we could do a much better job of speaking with people we don't always agree with. We could be talking to folks all the time, not just during elections. We could help each other better understand how our government works. We could focus more on local issues than the ones we see constantly on cable TV. The number one barrier I encountered on the campaign wasn't my values. It was: What does the Attorney General do? Who is the Attorney General? Why does this even matter?
Overall, I think we could work better with one another instead of looking for ways to work against each other.
I'm sure I'll have some more thoughts later. Maybe after I get to sleep at some point. That won't be today. Tomorrow, I will be at the Western District Court of Appeals to defend Missouri's Sunshine Law against Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
But while a lot of folks are bashing on Missouri this morning, I just want to say that I love Missouri. This is our home. And it's our job to keep it.
Thank you for believing in that and giving me a shot.
Here's my last dog photo of the campaign.
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Special Thanks
Thank you so much to all of our donors and volunteers. Thanks to you, we built the biggest volunteer program in the state. We called thousands of people. Texted thousands more. Knocked on a ton of doors. Helped protect Missourians' right to vote this election. And we worked with other great candidates all along the way. This was an incredible undertaking, especially coming from a race for Attorney General, one that doesn't often get to be in this position and one that far too often gets very little attention. Thank you.
More special thanks:
First, my family and friends for being so supportive, especially to my wife who kicked me out the door to go run and is the reason Liberty Belle was here with us at all, and to my mom, who, despite supporting Republicans across the board, supported a Democrat for Attorney General, was one of our biggest volunteers, and helped manage a statewide effort to get rides to voters who needed them. I told you we can work together!
Second, to the team that staffed this campaign. Clayton Herbst managed a campaign so well he made national groups start asking how the heck we were doing what we were doing in Missouri. And he assembled a great team: Beth Newman, Chloé Ray, Elisa Neilson, Clint Crabtree, Hunter Rehkop, Luke Duffy, Alex Murray, Wendy Todd, Gavin Moore, Elliot McGinnis, Uriah Earl, Vicki Berger, Maria Yepez Damian, Allyn Harris Dault, Saish Satyal, DeAndress Green, Chet Whye, Mya Petty, Lizz Callahan, and Stevie Fichtenmayer. Many of you got to meet them, and all of you saw the hard work they put into this campaign.
Third, to our Treasurer Freddy Doss who did some of just about everything. Always has. Always will.
Fourth, to our creative team led by Lincoln Nelson. They told our campaign's story. Just look at their work on YouTube. And they made what was one of the best TV ads of the cycle.
Finally, to the voters who put their trust in me, including many who crossed party lines to vote for me, and the many more who convinced their friends to do so too. Those are the kind of conversations that have to happen all the time if we're going to get anywhere. Our state has to mean more than party.
We built something really special together. It didn't get the results we hoped for in the election, but there's a lot that doesn't show up in those final vote tallies. I promise you, however you're feeling today, what we did together will mean a lot for Missouri's future.
Don't give up on Missouri.
Thank you so much for being a part of our campaign. I'll see you out there.
Sincerely yours,
Elad
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Paid for by Elad Gross for Missouri; Fredrick Doss, Treasurer
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Elad Gross for Missouri
PO Box 21621
St. Louis, MO 63109
United States