Hi John,
I’m just getting a break from all the madness of yesterday’s launch and wanted to reach out. As you know, we just officially announced our run for Congress. And, yes, you can probably guess I’m about to ask for your support, but first I hope you’ll give me just a minute to explain why I’m running and why it’s so important.
I was born and raised in Laredo, right on the border. My parents immigrated to Texas to give our family a better life. Even as a child growing up, I could see how D.C. lawmakers were failing to protect and serve communities like mine — the lack of health care, low wages and high unemployment, and a badly broken immigration system. I wanted to be part of solving the problems we were facing, so I became an immigration and human rights attorney.
A couple years ago, friends and neighbors encouraged me to take a big leap of faith and run for Congress. Our district has voted for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and most recently Joe Biden. Most people here vote for Democrats. But for some reason, we’ve been represented by a congressman who acts like a Republican. Before I challenged him in last year’s primary, Rep. Henry Cuellar had voted with Donald Trump 70% of the time.
Cuellar has been in Congress for 16 years. He voted for Trump’s border wall twice. He’s proudly anti-choice. And he was the only Democrat to vote against the PRO Act, adding another checkbox to his long standing anti-worker record. I could go on and on about the ways in which his record is completely out of step with the values of our district.
How does someone with that record get re-elected? The answer is that Rep. Cuellar is heavily bankrolled by giant corporate PACs and wealthy Republican donors who know he’s a reliable vote for their interests in Congress.
Last year, we came within just a few percentage points of defeating Henry Cuellar. Despite being outspent by $700,000 and opposed by the Koch network and major corporate PACs, we nearly pulled off a massive upset.
After nearly losing to us last year and a devastating pandemic, I thought Rep. Cuellar might wake up to the problems that South Texans face. But he hasn’t changed the way he votes! He’s still serving his Republican corporate donors.
So, we’re back to finish what we started. The good news is that we’re not a first-time candidate anymore, so many voters already know us. The bad news is that Henry Cuellar has been anticipating another challenge, and he’s banked more than $1.7 million for his campaign, giving him a massive fundraising head start.
That’s why I’m emailing today, one day after our big launch, to ask you to make the best possible donation you can to our campaign. We lost by just a couple thousand votes last time, in large part because we were outspent by so much corporate money flooding into the district to fund misleading attack ads.
You can make sure we don’t get outraised and outspent this time around. If everyone reading my email contributes today, I’m confident we’ll have the resources we need to win. Here’s your personal link to donate:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/[email protected]
The absolute last thing I want is to get to the end of this primary election and come away with regrets thinking we could have done just a little bit more to win. I know you feel the same way too.
Thank you so much for considering making a donation today. It means the world to me to have your support.
Let’s finish the fight.
Jessica
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To give by check:
PO Box 660
Laredo, TX 78042
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