Blog

The primary is tomorrow—Tuesday the 14th—and I’m filled with such incredible gratitude for the team we’ve put together.

For the 11 folks on the campaign team who worked tirelessly to pull together everything—who let me set this vision and voice and worked together to carry out a campaign that invited EVERYONE in. For the 50+ volunteers who wrote postcards, cooked food, walked the dirt roads with me, and enabled us to have at least two contacts with all 3,000 registered voters, and then they just kept on showing up with what they had in hand. For the 100+ donors, from all over the state and country, who found something to believe in, and contributed enough for us to have child care and house parties all over the neighborhood. Whether I’m handed the nomination on Tuesday night or not, it’s the voters and non-voters (my neighbors) that made this campaign so special.

When I started this ride, I thought campaigning was so voters could get to know me, evaluate their choices, and then ring in their order. But I was so wrong: campaigning was such a gift to bring with me to the statehouse—I’m going to bring all of your stories, triumphs, challenges. I’m going to remember the curve of each dirt road as we talk about land use, the dead zones of cell coverage as we discuss infrastructure. I know so much more about each of you from this process, and for that I’ll be grateful, always.

There is one more thing that I’ve realized, and that I think I’ve helped all of you realize too—small town politics can be interesting and engaging. We want someone to represent us who understands policy and the big picture, someone who asks: Who is most affected? Who profits? And who suffers? We can talk about what matters. We can move beyond righteousness and let in nuance. We want leaders that step forward with courage and vision to build a Vermont that thinks beyond the next campaign cycle, beyond limited revenues, to a future that’s committed to us—a commitment to community.