Hi there — I have a few free minutes in my schedule today, and I wanted to take a moment to share something with you.

When I got into public service, there weren’t a whole lot of leaders in Washington who looked like me. In fact, when I first ran for the House of Representatives in 1998, Wisconsin had never elected a woman to Congress in its 150 year history.

A lot of folks didn’t think I could win that race. I remember huddling with one of my staffers at the time, and she said, “Well, Tammy, maybe you want to rethink what you’re doing because it’s going to be tough.” Even my well-meaning friends told me they just didn’t know if the voters were ready.

But I made the decision to push forward. And with the help of our grassroots supporters at the time, I ended up winning that race and became the very first woman elected to represent Wisconsin in Congress. It wouldn’t be the last time this team would make history.

When I ran for U.S. Senate in 2012, folks like you fought alongside me — even as some others wrote us off. You helped me become the first woman elected to the chamber from our state and the first openly gay Senator in our nation’s history.

I understood that this extraordinary opportunity needed to be used to make a difference in people's lives, and I’ve fought to do that every single day since. That’s why I ran for office in the first place, not to make history, but to make a difference — and folks like you have supported me along the way because you wanted to make a difference, too.

Together, I know we will continue to fight for affordable health care, for living wages, to protect our fundamental right to vote, and for everyone who has been written off, counted out, or left behind. Now, I'm asking you to keep going.

Will you double down on your commitment to fight for what’s right? With the midterm elections quickly approaching, your support couldn’t be more important.

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A lot has changed since 1998. Today, Congress is more diverse than ever before. And last month, I was proud to vote to confirm Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic nomination to the Supreme Court.

Yes, we’ve come a long way, but we can’t take our progress for granted or mistake it for victory. It’s more important than ever to defend the progress that’s been made and fight to continue that work.

Thanks for standing with me in that fight, folks.

— Tammy