John,
We want to be candid for a moment about one of the downsides to elected office: As a member of the House of Representatives, Cori must run for re-election every two years.
As a freshman Member of Congress, Cori will be up for re-election for the first time next November, and we're not taking anything for granted. Our race was decided by just three points in 2020, so we have to be prepared for every possible scenario this cycle.
Folks are all but guaranteed to come out of the woodwork to try and take this seat, whether that be far-right Republicans or less-than-progressive primary challengers who want to return to the status quo. Last cycle, Republicans — and some Democrats — spent tens of millions of dollars trying to defeat progressive leaders including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.
We already know the far-right will spend countless sums to baselessly attack Cori, so we're counting on this grassroots team to help lead Cori to re-election. Our future opponents may have dark money megadonors and corporate PACs — but we have *this* people-powered movement.
John, as a valued member of this team we have to ask: Can you chip in $5 or more to reach our $30,000 goal before Tuesday's end-of-month deadline and make sure Cori has the resources to continue organizing and legislating for bold, anti-racist, progressive change in Congress?
To be honest, Cori's re-election is about more than just Missouri's First District — it's about who holds power in Congress. Democrats currently have the slimmest House majority in modern history and conventional wisdom holds that the midterms will be challenging for the president's party.
Democrats cannot rely on the same old tactics to defend the House next year. If we're going to stay in power, we need to elect and re-elect more progressives to Congress.
Voters gave us a mandate in 2020 to deliver policies that center the needs of everyday people. Now, we need to expand our progressive caucus so we can continue our fight for environmental justice, workers' rights, and criminal-legal system transformation.
In solidarity,
Team Cori
