Hey there, it’s Jasmine Beach-Ferrara. I just launched my campaign for Congress in NC-11 to unite my community and defeat Republican Madison Cawthorn. (And I’m humbly asking if you’ll chip in to my grassroots campaign before our first-ever FEC reporting deadline.)

As an organizer and a minister, my work has always been rooted in showing up and meeting people where they are, listening to what matters most to them, finding common ground and then translating that into action.

When my wife Meghann and I launched the Campaign for Southern Equality, there was a deep skepticism that this effort could ever work. But we knew that people across the South -- especially in small towns and rural communities -- were ready to organize in new ways. We ignored the skeptics and got to work organizing fellow LGBTQ+ couples to challenge marriage discrimination by showing up all over the Deep South.

My faith teaches me to find the stranger in the room and welcome them. To hold firmly to my values of love and empathy, understand where each person is coming from, and then forge solutions that lift us all up.

Every person’s story is particular and personal, but you also hear familiar refrains. How affordable childcare would make such a difference for a working mom. How more treatment programs for opioid addiction would help a beloved son start rebuilding his life. How local jobs that pay real salaries and offer benefits and opportunities for advancement would make it possible for a family to buy their first home.

Madison Cawthorn has spent his first months in Congress building up his own profile and leaving the people he represents behind. He’s lied about his resume, spread conspiracy theories, stoked division and flirted with Nazis. He shouldn't be in Congress.

My team needs to raise $25,000 before next week’s FEC deadline when our fundraising numbers will become public for the first time. Will you chip in $25 or any amount to prove that our compassionate, organizing-centered campaign can overcome Cawthorn’s hateful rhetoric and partisan fear-mongering?

With your support, we’re building a campaign on the pillars of empathy, hope and love. That’s how we’re going to win this race.

Jasmine Beach-Ferrara

PAID FOR BY JASMINE BEACH-FERRARA FOR CONGRESS