Friends -

One of my first jobs after college was as the campaign manager for a U.S. House race in Connecticut. We came up short by just 1,587 votes in one of the closest races in the country.

This was me on Election Night as the votes came in.

Managing that race taught me a lot about running successful campaigns, so I thought it would be helpful to pull back the curtain a little bit on one of those lessons to share why early financial support is so important for a campaign.

In that 1996 race, we had a great candidate, a vulnerable incumbent, and a good year for Democrats. But what we lacked was resources. We probably got outspent by more than a 6-1 margin, and we lost the race by less than a percentage point. It was heartbreaking. But that election night, my 22 year-old self decided that I would never be part of a race that got outspent that badly again if I had any control over it.

What I also learned is that there is no substitute for early money. A strong first fundraising quarter for your campaign allows you to hire quality early staff, scare off top quality opponents, and make investments in long term field organizing.

I know Election Day seems far off, and politics may be the last thing you want to think about right now. But the truth is what we do in these early days will pay massive dividends closer to Election Day. So I need to ask:

Can you please consider making a donation to my re-election today? Raising the resources we need early is our campaign’s biggest strategic imperative, and a $3 donation today is worth far more than $6 right before Election Day.

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There’s no moving Election Day to make up for lost time, so it’s important that we do everything we can to make these early days count.

In every race, I’ve had to take on well-funded, far-right forces — whether it was a self-funding billionaire or outside spending from the NRA. But if you have my back now, I’ll be ready for anything they throw at me.

Every best wish,

Chris Murphy

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