Friend, this is me on January 6th.

*Photo of Ruben on January 6th*

I never imagined that I’d need to use what I learned in the Marine Corps to protect myself and my colleagues on the floor of the House of Representatives 15 years after I left Iraq.

I never imagined teaching my House colleagues how to put on a gas mask and regulate their breathing.

I never imagined I’d be helping frightened colleagues move to safety as insurrectionists started streaming into the Capitol.

I never imagined I’d stay behind after the Capitol security came in to do one more sweep for colleagues who might have frozen and gone to cocoon somewhere hard to find.

I never imagined I would ever have to teach my staff how to knock on the door of our office a certain way to signal it was them and not some attacker — something we did in the Marine Corps when surrounded by insurgents and you didn’t know who was good and who was bad.

And I never imagined I’d have to text members of the House and urge them not to get on buses ready to evacuate us from the Capitol because if we left we’d lose the building to the coup.

Maybe it is the Marine in me, but I will always fight for our democracy. I'd have done it in the Capitol that day — and I will fight as hard as I can for you and for our democracy as Arizona’s Senator.

I won’t lie to you. It’s going to be tough. But as I prepare to be sworn in next January, you have my word that I won’t back down. I’m not afraid of tough fights, and I’ll be out there on my own if I have to.

But it would give me a lot of peace of mind if I knew that this team still had my back. So, if I can count on you in the months ahead, please:

Can you make a recurring donation to my campaign so that we can figure out how to budget and sustain our operations for the long haul? It’s going to take all of us working together to hold the line against Trump, and it would mean a lot to have you with me.

BECOME A SUSTAINING DONOR: [link removed]

And as someone who joined the United States Marine Corps to defend this country and protect our democracy, you can always count on me to be on the front lines.

Thanks for your help. And as always…

Semper Fi.

Ruben
 


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