John,

It’s Josh Riley, and I hope you’re doing well. I’ll admit something to you most candidates won’t: raising money was the part of this job I was least prepared to do.

Asking for money is totally awkward and not how I was raised.

But, I have to tell you — I’m so proud of the success that we’ve had as a campaign. Since the day we launched last November, we’ve raised more money than any other Democratic House candidate across all of Upstate New York, and we’ve done it with a grassroots movement that I’m really proud of:

• Over half of our contributions are $25 or less;
• Over two-thirds of our contributions are $50 or less;

And here’s the best part: On Monday, we set a fundraising record for our campaign with over 1,000 contributions in a single day! The average contribution was just $13.

It’s incredible and deeply humbling to see the outpouring of support for our vision for Upstate New York.

Now, as our team emailed you yesterday, we have our pre-primary FEC deadline at midnight tonight. I just got off the phone with our Finance Director, and she let me know we are just 37 supporters away from our 100 email contributions pre-primary report goal!

John, if it’s in your capacity to donate, would you step up right now and pitch in $5 to get us one contribution closer to reaching our goal?

Remember, I’m the ONLY candidate in this race - Democrat or Republican- who has turned down money from corporate PACs. That’s why I depend on contributions from grassroots supporters like you, John.

This filing is one last opportunity before August 23rd to remind everyone that we are a people-powered movement.

So, I’m humbly asking for your first $5 today. Will you join the thousands of other Upstate New Yorkers who have contributed to our people-powered movement?

With gratitude & high hopes,

Josh Riley