Dear John,

A new year is a time of new beginnings for many, and today I’d like to share some news of ours as well. After eight incredible years at Sister District, I am stepping down and welcoming Sarah Curmi as our next Executive Director. I still believe deeply in our mission of building power in state legislatures, which is more important than ever, especially as we enter a second Trump era. I will be deeply involved in the transition over the coming weeks, and I’m excited to stay engaged as an advisor to Sister District and as a volunteer with my local team.

Sarah most recently served as the Vice President of State and Local Campaigns at EMILYs List, and is one of the nation's foremost experts on state legislative elections and down-ballot campaigning. She has worked for more than 20 years in state level politics. At EMILYs List, she oversaw efforts to recruit and advise women running for down-ballot offices. Prior to EMILYs List, Sarah served as the caucus director of the Michigan Senate Democrats, and worked as a legislative staffer and campaign operative for Michigan state legislative electeds and candidates. She has a wide network of national and in-state relationships around the country, and a deep commitment to advancing progressive power at the state level. I could not be more confident that Sarah is the perfect person to lead Sister District into its next chapter!

John, I want you to know that I am leaving on an incredibly happy and hopeful note. When we began Sister District in 2016, we never imagined it would turn into such a vibrant, impactful, and enduring organization. Today, I am in awe at what this community has built.

In the last eight years, we have endorsed candidates in 202 races across 18 states, 146 of whom won and have gone on to fight for progressive issues in their state legislatures. We’ve raised $7.3 million in small-dollar donations directly for our candidates, and reached out to more than 6.5 million voters through phones, texts, postcards, and door knocks.

Since 2020 we have also expanded our mission to include programs like State Bridges, where we raised nearly $900k for community-based organizations; Future Winners, where we trained scores of candidates planning to run for office; and Purple District Network, where we connected more than 300 elected legislators. We launched a new narrative change program to educate the public about the power and promise of states through speaking events and partnerships. And, we continued our best-in-class political research – culminating in groundbreaking new research on downballot rolloff and tactics for combatting it.

In terms of our success as a movement, the results speak for themselves. In 2016, Democrats held majorities in just 29 state legislative chambers. Now, they control nearly 40. So while progress in our country certainly has not been linear over the last eight years, I am leaving my position confident that our future is brighter than our past.

With that, please join me in welcoming Sarah Curmi to the Sister District family!

With deep gratitude,