John,

I’ve been traveling Texas recruiting volunteers, meeting with people in the fight and holding town hall conversations everywhere we can, places like Mansfield, Fort Bend, Wichita Falls, Denton, Amarillo, Rice, Garland, Humble.

There’s real power in people coming together. You don’t feel so all alone or hopeless when you look around the room and see a thousand people just like you — willing to take a chance in showing up, willing to work for something better.

So many people are sick of reading the news, left cold by social media and disappointed not just by the people in the White House and the majority in Congress, but by the leaders of what could be the opposition party… who seem stunned, lost, listless, maybe waiting for things to sort themselves out.

And then they come to a town hall and get to listen both to what people are going through AND importantly what people are willing to do about it. People who aren’t waiting for party leaders to wake up and give them orders, people taking the future in their hands and moving with it. Choosing to run for office, or volunteering to register voters, or organizing protests, marches, town halls or other ways that give us a shot at breaking through.

What I like most about these meetings is that people speak like people… not scripted, focus group tested, polled, consulted or researched. Just people talking and listening to other people.

Sometimes the way representatives and pundits talk about Medicaid cuts or the consequences of Trump’s budget bill can just seem like more politics, more talking points, more numbers and hypotheticals. When we talk about fighting back, what does it mean? Who are we fighting for?

Meet Gail. She stood up in Humble, Texas to tell us about her husband who has Parkinson’s:

“I’m his only care taker. I make just enough money that as long as I can keep him home, we’re good. But I’m 72 and my best case scenario is I outlive him. If I don’t, where will he go? Because when that money runs out, there’s not going to be a medicaid there to take care of him. He’ll be alone.

And those research dollars that Trump is cutting?

It affects everyone here. If it gives us just one more day or one more year with a loved one, it’s worth it.

If you know someone with cancer, that affects you. If you know someone who has Alzheimer's, that affects you. If you know someone with a neurodegenerative condition, that affects you.

And this bastard is taking it away.”

Fighting back means listening to the people around us who will lose their loved ones, their friends, their very lives.

It means sharing their stories so that those who hear it can no longer look away or pretend it doesn’t matter.

It means taking this energy to the streets, to the members of Congress, to the President, protesting, marching, meeting, stepping up to do the work necessary to win elections in 2026 — like registering voters and talking to the people with the power to decide the outcome NOW instead of waiting until 2026.

Giving this everything we can, all the time, everywhere… with the broadest possible coalition, fighting on every front.

Thank you for reading,

Beto