John,

The race has been called and although this campaign did not conclude as we hoped, I want to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to my supporters like you. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the community and our country.

We always knew that this would be an uphill battle given the stakes, and the amount of special interest money spent against us. But I could not be more proud of the organizers, volunteers, and community groups that came together to fight for this worthy cause. Your hard work and passion helped propel this competitive race to the national spotlight.

While Michelle Steel may have hid behind mudslinging and race-baiting, I ran my campaign on the issues of lowering costs for working families, protecting a woman’s right to choose, and passing common sense legislation to end the scourge of gun violence. The people of our District won’t forget Steel's refusal to meet them and I will continue fighting for what is right.

While this race has ended, our work to ensure that California’s 45th Congressional District has a representative that will fight for working families continues.

Thank you for everything,

Lt. Commander Jay Chen (Res.)