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Folks,
In July 2019, my team and I embarked on a journey that has spanned two Congressional election cycles. Our goal was to give the Democratic and Progressive voters of Washington’s 2nd District a real choice between the status quo policies that serve the wealthy and corporations, and a progressive vision that would represent the working class, the poor, underserved and marginalized communities, and perhaps most importantly a vision for a livable planet for our kids and grandkids.
In the 2020 cycle, we came up short by the thinnest of margins. Sadly, after the last vote count yesterday, we must concede that we’ve come up short again.
We have concluded that three factors out of our control were in play. First, redistricting made the district more conservative than we anticipated. The inclusion of the entirety of rural Whatcom and Skagit counties helped boost the GOP presence. There’s a lot of MAGA country here in Washington.
Second, we didn’t expect the GOP voters to coalesce around a single candidate, because not one of the seven filed candidates raised any significant money, ran a serious ground campaign, or had a competent message. But clearly one candidate’s message spoke to more GOP voters than the others, and he pulled half of those votes. He will get crushed in the general election, as GOP candidates always do here.
I believe the third factor was the influence of Putin’s war on Ukraine both on the minds of Democratic voters, and the impact on the cost of living for all of us.
That war immediately took precedence in the party, with funding for Ukraine’s defense eclipsing every domestic struggle. Democrats in Congress found billions of dollars for weapons and other military support for Ukraine while tens of millions of Americans remain uninsured, inflation rages against the working class, and the climate crisis – as it always does – took a back seat.
All of these are factors that were out of our control. But I am still incredibly proud of what my team accomplished.
We fought to bring a truly progressive vision for representation to the voting public, and that resonated strongly. This year we surpassed the share of the Democratic vote we earned in the 2020 cycle, which means more mainstream Democratic voters were open to our message.
Voters across the district and the country rallied behind our call for Medicare For All, the Green New Deal, getting corporate money out of politics, and building an economy that works for everyone – not just the bosses.
We worked hard for three years to build this truly grassroots movement locally, and our efforts have not been in vain. We have helped inspire a new generation of political activists who are already stepping up to demand a better future.
While we are of course disappointed at the final primary tally, we remain hopeful. We know that change will come, and the future is worth fighting for.
I’ve been an activist for over 30 years. The status quo is powerful, and standing up to it is never easy. There are always losses. We deal with those losses, learn from them, find the positives, and move on to the next fight.
Right now in Washington State, we have the strongest state single payer movement in the country, and we intend to get our healthcare bill for Whole Washington onto the ballot for November 2023. Then voters can decide for themselves if they want to maintain the corrupt and parasitic for-profit health insurance system, or have a system that eliminates the private insurance death panels and provides healthcare as a human right.
I’m proud to be a board member for Whole Washington, and I will continue that fight. I’m asking everyone who believed in our campaign to join me in that effort now. Whatever your skills, wherever you are, there’s something for everyone to contribute.
Please visit wholewashington.org to learn more, and sign up to volunteer and help us gather the signatures we need to get on the ballot.
I don’t know yet exactly what my next step will be, but I’m going to be taking some time to recover first. Three years running as a grassroots candidate has been grueling. To run a race with integrity against mountains of corporate cash really takes a toll on you.
One thing I do know for certain is that I WILL continue to work for justice.
I do have one final ask for all of you who supported our campaign. We still have some bills to pay to cover our final campaign expenses. In our push to reach the maximum number of voters through phone and text over the final weeks, we went over budget by a few thousand dollars.
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Your support throughout this campaign has been immense, and we are all truly grateful. We’ve worked all cycle on a shoestring budget, and we fully anticipated carrying through to November. Many candidates leave vendors or staff unpaid when the campaign ends abruptly, but I won’t do that. Anything we owe that can’t be covered by contributions will be my personal responsibility as the candidate.
But if everyone pitched in even a few dollars, we could raise what we need to close this out with a clear conscience.
I’ll be in touch soon to update everyone on ways we can stay active and keep fighting for change together. This is not the end.
Solidarity,
Jason Call
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Our mailing address is: Elect Jason Call for Congress PO BOX 1887 Marysville, WA 98270 |
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