Dear John,

While every day on the campaign trail is different from the next, one thing that seems to remain true in politics is that things change quickly. We’re grateful this week to stand in a remarkably different position than we did only just a few weeks ago, when many observers still falsely presumed that Pelosi would retire, creating an open seat.

The various career politicians described as her potential replacements in the press are all committed to their careers before the issues, which is why none of them are willing to face the incumbent.

I am not afraid, because I care more about the policy issues impacting our communities than I do about my career. Can you stand with me today to defend the future from an intergenerationally predatory past?

Earlier this week, Business Insider published a profile about me and our 2022 campaign observing our long history of calling out conflicts of interest, particularly insider trading by Members of Congress.

The article explores congressional insider trading, quoting me as saying, “She spent 34 years enriching herself at the public's expense. And this is how.”

While Buttar...said he's glad the rest of the world has finally caught up, he's also apoplectic that it took everyone so long. He called Pelosi out about her finances in April 2021, inquiring on social media whether she was serving "her constituents or her $140-million portfolio."

"This is unapologetic, open corruption," Buttar said.…

"It's a conflict of interest that invites corporate influence into their substantive decision making," he said of the status quo, casting the fossil fuels distributors, drug makers, and defense contractors packed into lawmakers' financial portfolios as powerful puppeteers.

"Members of Congress are more committed to those industries than their constituents precisely because they make money off it," Buttar said. "It is that simple."

Can you join us today to continue highlighting the corporate corruption of the Democratic Party, and leading journalists to information they seem hard-pressed to find on their own?

Then, just this morning, SF Gate published a profile and lengthy Q&A making clear our position vis-a-vis the Democratic Party.

The SF Gate story was notable for several reasons. First, it reviews reports long suppressed by San Francisco journalists aligned with the Democratic Party, exposing a smear campaign orchestrated to insulate an oligarch from public accountability.

It also featured our critique of the incumbent, and the better alternatives that we offer on policy issues. SF Gate quoted me as saying:

[D]o voters want the same voice that has steered our country into a ditch for 34 years while filling her pockets at the public's expense? Or do we want an advocate who has long stood for our communities? Plenty of people who've stood for our communities get smeared. Ilhan Omar is smeared routinely. Dr. King got smeared. Malcolm X got smeared. If you stand for truth against an establishment, you get smeared. They only smear you if they fear you.

And the Democratic establishment has good reason to fear me because on six different occasions in 2020 I won things bigger than a congressional seat: We shifted the speaker of the House on critical policy issues.

While many voters have grown disillusioned with the voices of politicians who claim support for progressive principles when convenient, SF Gate also highlighted what makes me different than every politician in Washington:

I'm not afraid of a fight. I mean, they've done everything short of killing me to shut me up. Every kind of lie you could imagine, leveraging racial stereotypes and religious stereotypes….

[I]n 2022, I understand that I have to run against [Pelosi], the party, and all of its sycophants in institutions, sadly, including the press.

Can you help us continue calling out the establishment’s corruption, highlighting crucial policy issues, and explaining them to voters without the Wall Street spin that pervades most news coverage?

Power concedes nothing without a demand. I’ve always been willing to make the demands, but their force and strength depends on your support.

That’s why, together, we were able to force change on the House of Representatives in 2020 on six major policy issues. With your continued help, I’m confident that similar success is the least we can expect in 2022.

As I’m fond of saying, I’m happy to continue pushing Pelosi on policy issues…until we push her out of her seat.

Thanks so much for standing with me!

Your voice,
Shahid