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I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples. -- Mother Teresa
The results of our election in CA-08 have been certified. I want to take a moment to thank every one of you for your ripple. Every contribution, every phone call, every postcard, every voter registration outing, everyone who was a precinct captain, and every encouraging word - it all added up to 124,400 votes. That’s a 48% increase over the total votes for the Democratic candidate in 2016. Even with the surge in 2020, that’s a noteworthy gain. We did that together. We showed that Democrats can compete in this district.
We may not have won this election, but we created something very special - a broad and diverse community across a vast 33,000 square mile part of California where people have long felt left behind.
A lot of people have asked me, “So what's next?” Well, I'm not going anywhere. This past year has shown us more than ever that CA-08 needs attention and resources. We need funding for our Federal lands, our schools, our rural hospitals, our elders and our veterans. We know that together we are stronger. If we keep up the pressure on our representatives, together, we can make change happen.
We also know that California will lose at least one congressional seat and we will not know what redistricting will bring until next summer. Rather than dealing in hypotheticals, we will keep doing the work on the ground, building community. I will continue to be an advocate for this very special district and the people who make it their home. I have met the most wonderful people in my travels and I have learned that the best people in our country do not walk the halls of power in Washington DC: the true heroes walk the halls of our hospitals, our schools, our places of worship, our fire stations, our grocery stores and our long term care homes for seniors and veterans. They show up every day for their communities, and we must keep showing up for them.
And we celebrate the wins along the way. The path to change is slow and winding but when we win, we note it. One victory we are celebrating today is that my friend, Kathy Bancroft, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, is in Sacramento participating in the electoral college as the representative for CA-08. She's the first person from Inyo County ever to hold this honor. Little by little, we are getting seats at the table by bringing our own chairs.
So please stay safe. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones and enjoy the holidays.
Then, we will wake up on January 21, breathe a sigh of relief and then get back to work! There is so much to do. But this can be the dawn of something we have all dreamed of, if we keep the same energy we all poured into the past four years. It’s there, right in front of us. Onward.
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