John,
If we are not impotent in the face of so much injustice... if we have a responsibility and a role to play in saving this country... if we are indeed the sum of our actions... then what we do, or fail to do, in these crucial months before the November election will define us and this country forever.
Before Covid-19, we organized thousands of volunteers to knock on over 41,000 doors in one state house district alone, helping to produce the largest voter turnout in a representative district special election in Texas history.
Then, as the pandemic hit and Texans lost their jobs in record numbers, we rushed assistance to our state’s food banks, with our volunteers filling more than 14,000 shift hours and raising more than $200,000 for food banks from over 36,700 contributors.
And because the upcoming elections are the most important of our lives and we want to bring as many of our fellow Texans into the fight as possible, last month we launched a major state-wide voter registration effort. So far, our volunteers have followed up on hundreds of thousands of mailed voter registration forms by making over 650,000 phone calls and sending more than 505,000 texts to unregistered likely Democrats in Texas, helping them to get registered.
Why?
Because the battle before us is the biggest we’ve ever fought. And so is the prize.
In Texas alone, if we pick up nine seats we will win a majority in the State House, one that will fight to end decades of racial gerrymandering and black and brown voter suppression, and move forward on the most important challenges facing us.
There is also this: a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver our state’s 38 electoral college votes to the Democratic nominee for president (which hasn’t happened since 1976). That would mean a resounding defeat for Donald Trump, a crystal clear victory for Joe Biden and a seismic moment in American politics that would change forever what is politically possible in our country.
Not just nice, but necessary. Because, if there was any confusion about it before Covid, or the massive economic contraction that has followed, or the brutal public murders of unarmed black men and women by police, or the most recent actions of the most lawless and immoral President to ever hold the office... then it should now be clear that this country is on the edge of the end, and unless we quickly, urgently steer a new course, through new leadership, we will not make it.
The only way to achieve what is necessary in our democracy is to win elections. And the only way to win them is by doing the tough, grinding, relentless work of identifying, registering, canvassing and turning out the voters of this state.
Powered by People exists solely for this purpose.
With your help, we will continue to raise, organize and deploy the many thousands of volunteers necessary to do this work. To win elections, to ensure that power truly rests with the people, to give this, and far more importantly, future generations a chance to survive and transcend our past choices.
I strongly believe that this moment will either mark the end of, or a new beginning for, this country. Our present choice to make.
We in Powered by People will continue to choose to do this important work. I am grateful that you have chosen to support us and make it possible.
Beto
