Hello,
I’m just stepping away for a second to update you on what has been an extremely exciting and productive week for the campaign and full of great news. First, I want to welcome aboard our new staff members who recently joined the campaign. We were happy to announce State Representative Ras Smith as our Political Director.
Also joining our team are Ellen Goodmann Miller, adding firepower to our communications team, and I’m sure many of you might have already heard from Toby Cain who will lead our field operations and volunteer coordination efforts. If we are to be victorious, we are going to need all hands on deck. Just an hour of your time volunteering on the campaign can make a huge difference on June 7th.
In case you missed it, we released our first quarter fundraising numbers yesterday, and we are happy to report that we raised nearly $1.4 million this first quarter with $1 million cash on hand. This means that we are in an excellent position to make this race competitive without one dime of corporate PAC money.
Defeating Senator Charles Grassley is not an easy task. Our campaign has shown that we have the ability to secure the necessary funding and that coupled with the enthusiasm I am seeing from Democrats on the ground in Iowa should build confidence and be a beacon for hope for all Iowans that this race is winnable. I want to thank each and every one of our 39,000 donors for their support. Your generosity will ensure that our message reaches voters in every corner of the state.
Last weekend, we were in Eastern Iowa and visited with so many dedicated leaders and elected officials. We're going river to river as we approach the final stretch of the campaign. It was great to be back in Muscatine, Bettendorf, and Burlington..
And just when you thought Senator Grassley couldn’t embarrass the state of Iowa enough, on the day MLK is shot for possessing skin color and a voice of reason, Senator Grassley shoots down Judge Jackson's nomination. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has built a brilliant career and resume. She is more than qualified to be our next Supreme Court Justice. She should be confirmed with bipartisan support. Period.
ACTION ALERT!!
Starting this week, we will be hosting volunteer office hours on Thursdays at 7:00 PM. We invite you to join these Breaking Waves volunteer meetings. We will use our time together to deliver updates from the campaign, listen to your stories from the field, and walk through our upcoming volunteer priorities.
Franken for Iowa
BY THE NUMBERS
37 cities and towns visited this cycle
34 counties visited this cycle
7200 petition signatures
22 counties with over 100 signatures
93 out of 99 counties with signatures submitted
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I am grateful to have your support and to have everyone on this team.
Sincerely,
Mike Franken, VADM, U.S. Navy (ret.)