Dear John,
My thanks to you and to all who made this campaign possible.
We chose to take on the greatest attack on democracy, on decency, on individual freedoms and constitutional rights anywhere in America.
And we did so regardless of the odds or the challenges we’d encounter along the way. When many were tempted to submit to the status quo, we chose to fight.
In a country where so many Democrats found themselves on the defensive, trying to hold seats and majorities, we made Texas one of the few places in America where we could take the initiative.
The staff that our manager Nick Rathod put together was dedicated and relentless in bringing their experiences and expertise to bear on the challenge of winning political power in Texas.
The volunteers that, by the tens of thousands, signed up to knock on doors and meet voters where they are made this campaign about the people of Texas, and importantly, about the people who are so often written off or taken for granted… those who have not always voted, or registered or been heard from or counted in the past. Our goal was to make the targets of suppression and intimidation a decisive new force in the Texas electorate.
Our donors funded the best-resourced campaign to ever challenge the status quo in Texas. We broke fundraising records, out-raised the incumbent in three reporting periods, and gave the campaign a fighting chance against a Governor who started $50 million ahead.
Our message: after eight years of failure from a governor who couldn’t keep the lights on, who couldn’t keep our kids safe in school, who was failing in the basic responsibilities of public education and public health, who signed the most extreme abortion ban in America, who has made it harder to vote in Texas than in any other state, who has kept the minimum wage at $7.25 and whose extremist agenda and incompetent management hurts business growth and economic development — we need to turn the page on Greg Abbott and vote for change.
That change is something most of us — Democrats, Republicans, Independents — want: a Texas where a woman makes her own decisions about her own body and future; one where the lives of our kids are prioritized over the interests of the NRA; one where a high quality, fully funded public education is available to all children; one where we expand Medicaid so that we are no longer the least-insured state in America, where you can afford to see a doctor, fill a prescription, take your child to a mental health care provider; one where we create high-paying, high-value jobs that allow us to successfully confront the climate crisis by renewing our energy leadership, a Texas where we are no longer defined by our differences or asked to be afraid of or hate our fellow Texans.
In other words: a Texas where we are free enough and healthy enough to pursue our potential and fulfill our promise as the greatest state in the Union.
We took that message everywhere, no town too small or Republican-represented, no neighborhood too urban or reliably Democratic. We refused to write anybody off or take anyone for granted. We held hundreds of town hall meetings all over the state, where folks could ask any question, raise any issue, elevate any idea or need.
Spearman, San Antonio, Dumas, Dallas, Texarkana, Fort Worth, El Paso, Del Rio, Pampa, Beaumont, Buda, Quanah, Amarillo, Pecos, Muleshoe, Houston, Wichita Falls, Port Arthur, Pittsburg, Palestine, Arlington, DeSoto, Austin, San Angelo, Abilene, McAllen, San Benito, San Juan, Sherman, Edinburg, Eagle Pass, Brownsville, Paris, Brenham, Childress, El Campo, Victoria. Literally hundreds more to name.
As I write the names of these towns, faces, stories, emotions come to mind. Unforgettable hope that I felt, the way in which being together, listening to each other, gave us all something and someone to fight for, showed that we could come together despite our differences to do right by one another. We are truly part of something bigger than any one of us.
The sheer size of this state and its monumental beauty, constantly being revealed as we traveled down its highways, freeways and county roads, reminded us of just how big. The stark skyline of the Panhandle, broken by giant grain silos and the dramatic unexpected appearance of canyons and gorges. The palm trees, neighborhood parks and Taco Palenques, the brightly painted homes of the RGV. The peaceful rolling unwalled river of Laredo. The deep green pine curtain of East Texas, eighteen wheelers loaded with timber lumbering down the highway. The rolling hills of Fredericksburg and central Texas. The mountains and desert of far west Texas, home. The vastness and incomparable beauty of this land.
Throughout this great big state, we sought out coalitions and constituencies that had been ignored or neglected by the political process and candidates from both parties in the past.
We complemented that with a dedicated team of social media storytellers who elevated the experiences and perspectives of our fellow Texans in videos that allowed them to tell their own stories in their own words. We sought out and engaged with local press in all 20 markets, everywhere in English and Spanish.
We created ads to carry our message that ran on broadcast, cable, radio and digital platforms to reach those whom we couldn’t meet in person.
And we made significant investments in data, cleaning up a voter file that had millions of wrong phone numbers, bad addresses and incomplete voter information, all of which allowed us to target current and potential Texas voters much more accurately, efficiently and effectively.
But as strong, determined and disciplined a campaign as we ran, it wasn’t enough this time.
Though we raised an unprecedented amount of money, Abbott outspent us by 2-1.
Though we fielded the largest volunteer army in Texas electoral history, one that grew to over 100,000 people by election day, we had to contend with the most repressive voter laws in the country making it harder to register and cast a ballot in Texas than in any other state.
And though we gave this everything we had, including a year of our life on the road away from family, fighting with every ounce of effort and energy, we lost the election.
Greg Abbott won another four-year term and it is likely that the deep damage he and those in power are doing to this state will continue.
I am disappointed but I am not deterred or defeated. Good has come from our efforts and good will continue to come from them.
Though we lost our race, we helped those in other key races win theirs. More than $15 million was spent against judges and key leaders that we helped to elect in 2018 in Harris County. Our efforts in this cycle foiled these attacks, preserved the valuable gains we made in the past, and even increased our majority on the commissioner’s court in the largest and most diverse county in Texas.
The expected “Red Wave” that threatened to sweep the Rio Grande Valley was met by superior organizing, investment and work ethic by our campaign and allies in South Texas. We helped reclaim a Congressional seat, hold others that were targeted by national Republican leaders and restore the ability for Democrats up and down the ballot to win important races in one of the most hotly contested regions in the country.
And this campaign produced value that will live far beyond election night. Whether it is the data, the systems, the trained volunteers and organizing staff, or the lessons learned, we are committed to applying all of this to the continued fight for a better Texas.
This election is a battle in a much larger fight for the future of Texas. The issues we fought for — from reproductive freedom to safe schools to the right to vote — and the people who inspired us — like the families in Uvalde — are too important for us to simply give up after this one outcome. The threats directed against our fellow Texans are too grave to abandon them just because the path ahead is difficult and uncertain.
Plus, there’s something else that we produced in this campaign that is impossible to measure but more important than anything else that our efforts generated. We gave each other hope. Hope that Texas can be better, that we will be able to deliver on the expectations that we raised. That we are going to win this fight, one way or another, one day or another. Hope that we are better than our current circumstances and current leaders.
It's a powerful, precious thing and cannot be wasted. Our responsibility is to ensure that this hope is not a false one. We must stay in this fight, we must keep this faith with one another, we must ultimately win.
If anything, last Tuesday and this entire last year, the last five years for that matter, show us that this is going to be a long, tough road. We don’t know how long, how tough, but we know that we must travel it together and keep moving until we get to our destination.
Think of those who came before us that made our fight possible. Think about the roads they traveled, at the risk to and sometimes loss of their lives, long lonely roads that stretched for decades before the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were signed; the steady unrelenting march that led to reproductive freedom, marriage equality and workers’ rights. In the shadow of their sacrifice, service and struggle — now that everything they’ve won is under attack — who are we not to do our part?
And it sure beats the alternative — waiting for someone else to rescue us, or for things to get better of their own accord, or just accepting that the status quo will be our future, our fortune, our fate. Action at this moment of truth is everything. It is the antidote to despair and the key to victory.
Amy and I hold you in the deepest gratitude and respect for your commitment to this fight, to being on this road with us and so many millions of our fellow Texans. We are in this fight for life. Though we don’t know the role we’ll play, we know the way is forward and with you.
We look forward to seeing you out there before long.
Sincerely,
Beto
