John, it's Summer!
You know me — I stay in fighting trim. And I’m staying ready right now because I’m leading the way and taking on one of the biggest, dirtiest forces in politics:
Money.
Y’all already know how this goes. I’m not backed by billionaires, I’m backed by you. That’s why I’m leading the charge to get money out of politics — because it’s killing everything we care about:
💸 It’s corrupting our democracy.
🌍 It’s fueling the climate crisis.
✊🏽 It’s breaking unions and crushing workers.
📚 It’s attacking public education.
💔 It’s coming for our communities while protecting corporations
➕ …and so much more!
Money in politics doesn’t just corrupt what happens after elections — it rigs the game before it even starts. It intentionally locks people out. It makes it nearly impossible for the Black woman who doesn’t have a million-dollar donor behind her to step up and lead. It makes it harder for the public school teacher fighting for kids & students to run for office. It shuts the door on the nurse who’s seen firsthand how broken our healthcare system is. It sidelines the community organizer who knows what her neighborhood needs but doesn’t have a rolodex of wealthy donors.
It pushes out working-class folks, caregivers, and everyday people who should be the ones shaping our laws — but instead, we’re told to sit on the sidelines while billionaires buy the seats. That’s not democracy. That’s a pay-to-play system — and I’m in this fight to tear it down.
All roads lead back to the same problem — and we’ve got to call it out: Money in politics is destroying our future.
And that’s why I need your help. Because if we’re serious about getting big money out of politics, we have to build a campaign that proves we don’t need it!
Look — I know what happens when we lead on this issue. When we start talking about putting the many over the money, the billionaires pay attention.
When we call out dark money and try to rip corporate influence out of our government — it makes us a target.
And we know that when it comes to my next race…the billionaires will be back.
Because this work threatens their grip on power.
Because we’re out here building a movement that can’t be bought.
Because we’re not afraid to call bullshit when we see it.
We don’t have the luxury of pretending this system works fine the way it is. It doesn’t. It works for the people with the biggest wallets and the deepest pockets — and leaves the rest of us fighting just to be heard.
I’m in this fight to change that. To flip the script. To build a democracy that belongs to you, not Elon Musk, not Jeffrey Yass, and not the mega-donors in the shadows.
But I can’t do this alone.
We know what’s coming. But we’re ready. Because when we stand together, we’re stronger than any billionaire, any dark money group, any special interest out there.
Let’s keep building a movement they can’t buy.
In solidarity,
Summer Lee
P.S. I don’t take corporate PAC money. Never have, never will. Every dollar we raise is from people like you — and that’s exactly the way it should be.
