Dear supporters, friends, and fellow CA-04 residents,

Henry David Thoreau said, “Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.”

Today, I address you with deep regret.

Ten days ago, I addressed you to tell you about the suspension of my campaign. It was my hope at that time that taking the time to assess the health condition of my family members and to support them through this difficult time would grant me the possibility of resuming our effort to (finally) replace McClintock.

What I have learned is that my commitment to my family needs to continue for the foreseeable future and I must drop out fully from this race. This conclusion comes from a simple premise: If I care about people, that care has to start at home.  Though I regret being unable to continue our work together, I know who I am and this is the right decision.

The experience of running for Congress in the place where I’ve raised my sons has been amazing, and you can count on this—this is only the beginning. The movement we were creating to finally bring local representation to this beautiful part of our nation will continue to build.

The issues we’ve raised cut across political boundaries and will not be forgotten—whether we’re talking about climate change, wildfire resiliency and the homeowner’s insurance crisis, the protection of rural healthcare and the lowering of prescription drug costs, or economic gardening to create family sustaining jobs in our rural communities. That fight continues and we must not back down.

On the contrary, we will continue to raise our voices and continue to organize until we have a voice at the local, state, and national level. Our love of community and of our neighbors will continue to fuel a rural progressive political movement that is the only hope we have for breaking the right-wing stranglehold on political office here. Though I cannot run now, I will continue to organize and you can be certain that our efforts will not be in vain.

If I’ve learned anything in the last 9 months, I’ve learned that our movement is larger and broader than I ever imagined. I’ve met hundreds of activists, organizers, and everyday people just like you who have given me real hope for our future in this region. Our challenges are real and daunting, but our commitment is great.  As an example, more than 1200 individual contributions fueled this campaign, and we were just getting started. When the time comes, we can do this—we will “live afresh” soon.

For now, I encourage you to continue our work on the issues that matter and in the races that matter in our communities. This campaign, our movement, has always been about building power for the people of this region. This organizing, our work, must not stop. When I can rejoin the fight, I will be right there next to you, as I have always been.

When we organize, we win. Let’s organize.

In Solidarity,

Sean