Dear John,

Voter turnout in the United States is notoriously low as a general rule. But even by our country‘s sad historical standards, turnout in the jungle primary concluding today remains embarrassingly low.

Across the State of California, fewer than 15% of of eligible voters having cast ballots during the early voting period. That means that we enter today’s jungle primary knowing that every vote can make a difference.

Can you contribute today to put us in a position to sprint through the primary and hit the ground running for the general election cycle?

In 2020, winning the top-two primary made me the first Democrat to ever face the sitting Speaker of the House in a general election.

Now, we’re back to build on the unprecedented 81,000 votes that we secured despite a media whiteout, a global pandemic, and a public character assassination relying on (and unfortunately reinforcing) racial and religious stereotypes.

Over the course of the primary election cycle, media outlets serving San Francisco have widely chosen to ignore this race entirely. News organizations from CNN and Politico to the LA Times have even written stories presuming the outcome, prognosticating about Pelosi’s plans to put her daughter in her seat presuming that she is allowed—despite documented corruption—to retire on her own terms.

Your support helps level the field, and ensure that San Franciscans can learn about the options they won’t hear about from most media institutions.

That’s one reason why we’ve been so grateful to the few journalists who have shown up for work, like Eric Ting at SF Gate, Valerie Ibarra and “Diamond” Dave Whitaker at Mutiny Radio, SF Examiner columnist Lincoln Mitchell, and Timothy Regan at KPFA.

Joined by an Occupy SF organizer, Regan hosted an “Empathy Circle” among candidates in our race that KPFA 94.1 FM aired this past weekend on his weekly program, “Talk It Out.” It was a fascinating experience, both in substance and process.

In process, the Empathy Circle enabled a very different style of dialog from a debate. Unfortunately, even the collaborative and non-adversarial format remained too intimidating for Pelosi to show up. Substantively, it offered a chance to reflect on the incumbent’s sad relationship to democracy.

“I’ve spent a lot of time…trying to liberate our city’s voice in Washington, noting that the oligarch who inhabits this seat has never debated a challenger in the 35 years that she has held it. [That's] an absolutely preposterous reflection of entitlement and privilege of the worst conceivable kind….[indicating] disrespect for the voters and district…implicit in not showing up for a debate for an entire generation….If you’re not going to debate in public…someone has no business running for office.”

Can you join us again today to accelerate our efforts as we move beyond the primary to the general election in November?

Make sure that everyone you know here in San Francisco heads to the polls today! Statistically speaking, it’s more likely than not that they have yet to vote.

Your voice nudging your friends can make a bigger difference than you might realize. If incumbents showed up for work by debating opponents, or if news organizations showed up for work by holding them accountable for evading hard questions, we could expect voters to know about their options.

But with every institution—from the press to political parties—arrayed against voters, it falls to us to secure democracy.

Thanks for standing with us as we challenge an icon of corruption to recover democracy in San Francisco! We know how much the future remains at risk, which is why we defend it at any cost from the failures of the past.

Thank you for being part of this historic defense! Together, no depth of corruption can stop us.

Your voice,

Shahid

PS -- After the dust clears tonight, join us at Madrone Art Bar in the Lower Haight to celebrate our results!