The following has been reposted with permission from Facebook.

This afternoon, I called Mike Levin to congratulate him on his victory in CA-49.

While there are still thousands of votes left to be counted, it’s time to bring our party together and turn our efforts and attention toward making sure Diane Harkey does not go to Congress.

I’m so proud of everything that we did together. Because of our collective efforts, our district saw the largest turnout in any Congressional race in all of Southern California. More people voted for a Democratic candidate than a Republican one in this election. We had new registrants, young people, people of color, and other communities that normally don’t make their voices heard in an election come out and cast a vote.

This campaign was always about more than one person. It was about making sure our district has a representative who will fight for the issues that will have a real difference in our community – issues like Medicare for All, protecting a woman’s right to choose, protecting our environment, fighting for quality public education and criminal justice reform, standing up to the NRA, and getting corporate money out of politics.

I am eternally grateful to my amazing staff, our passionate, witty, and diverse group of interns and volunteers, our supporters, and the more than 20,000 community members across the district who voted to change the face of Congress.

Together, we built something in six months that has never been done before.

We always knew that this was going to be hard – that change is possible, but doesn’t come easy. And while we weren’t successful this time around, we showed everyone that we are a force to be reckoned with. That we won’t settle for how things have always been done. Because what we’ve seen is unmistakable: voters are demanding change. They’re sick of what they’re seeing coming out of Washington. They are tired of the same politicians with the same ideas. And they are tired of an old boys club that simply doesn’t address the issues that affect us.

And the demand for change goes beyond the issues – because we also need to change our politics. I’m so proud that even amidst unprecedented toxicity in politics, we proved that you can still bring people together in a positive, issues-based campaign. I’m proud that we took the high road. And instead of petty attacks that drag people down, we talked about solutions that lift people up.

And maybe most importantly, I’m proud that we showed all the young women and girls around the country that they are enough, that they don’t need to wait to make a difference, and that their voices matter. They’re going to build a world that is worthy of them. And there is plenty of work left to do.

As we’ve seen in race after race across the country in the past two years, it has been remarkable down-ballot candidates that have lifted candidates at the top of the ballot. If we are going to finally turn our region blue, it will be because of the remarkable women leaders we have the opportunity to elect locally who will inspire people to come to the polls in numbers they never have before. I hope you will support Cori Schumacher for Carlsbad Mayor, Corinna Contreras for Vista City Council, Sarah Spinks for Vista Mayor, Maria Nuñez for San Marcos City Council, Consuelo Martinez and Vanessa Valenzuela for Escondido City Council, Priya Bhat-Patel and Mary Anne Viney for Carlsbad City Council, and Michelle Gomez for San Diego County Board of Supervisors. I will be out knocking doors for them in the general election, and I hope you will too.

So for all of the people who poured your hearts into this campaign, don’t give up. Don’t be discouraged. While the outcome of this election isn’t what we were hoping for, the future will be. And I’m so excited for us all to build it together.

With gratitude,
Sara