John,

My name is John Henry, I’m 23 years old and I’ve spent the last 4 months working with Sunrise hubs across Virginia to elect Qasim Rashid to Congress. I wanted to take a little time to share why this race means so much to me and invite you to join me in fighting for places that have been left behind by our politics.

I remember being 16 and driving down a back road in a 1985 Dodge truck I just bought, singing “My little darling is a…. firecracker...” when my heart stopped. I pulled over to the side of the road, put my head on the steering wheel and said out loud to myself “holy shit, I’m a country kid!” I couldn’t believe that Middlesex county Virginia was my new home.

I moved to Virginia’s 1st district in middle-of-nowhere Middlsex county at 11 years old after a really tough time in my life. I’d grown up poor, the drug war had torn apart my family, and my dad had just died when I was sent to live with my Aunt and Uncle. Middlesex, VA was now my new home. I joined clubs, got amazing grades, fell in love with new people and with the amazing Chesapeake Bay. So on the side of that road I had begun to wonder if this could be my new home.

Now, I am not going to sit here and tell you that for a queer mixed kid this town was easy, and there was day that things felt so hard I wanted to just give up. But I was determined to find a home or make one, and gained the will to keep fighting. After that day, I started to notice I wasn’t as alone as I’d thought. One day I came back from my classes at the community college to find out that my classmates had been defending me from homophobia all day. It turned out there was this whole crowd of lovely weirdos, of kind, queer, working-class, hopeful people who were just like me, determined to find a home, determined to MAKE a home.

We are not alone here in the first district, and for the first time in a long time, we have someone ready to fight in the halls of congress for us. Qasim Rashid is running to break the Republican stranglehold because he calls this place home, and isn’t willing to leave it to the forces of stagnation, climate chaos, and bigotry.

So right now, I’m asking for your help. I’m asking you to help Qasim Rashid and Sunrise Movement fight to make the first district of Virginia the home it deserves to be. Come fight alongside the people who helped install the massive solar farms that now power my old high school. Stand with the people who stand out in front of the courthouse every Saturday with Black Lives Matter signs, for Barbara who walked out of church when the pastor was preaching hate, and for the brown kids and for the gay kids. We all are rallying together behind Qasim Rashid, a human rights lawyer, a Green New Deal champion, and progressive who calls this place HOME and wants to make it better for each of us.

Tomorrow, we have two final opportunities to push this race over the edge to victory. Can you commit to join me TODAY at 3:00pm ET and help us fight for all those who have been left behind by our stagnant politics? [[link removed]]

It’s time to fight for all people to feel like they can have a home in this district, and we need you to win. So join us on our phone bank tonight at 3:00pm and let’s bring this thing home.

John Henry, Sunrise


P.S. We'll also be calling every last voter who supports Qasim to make sure they have voted on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd from 3:00-6:00pm. Sign up here to join us. [[link removed]]

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