[1]LeftNet
Friends and family, I am honored to tell you that I’m running for
Lieutenant Governor of California. And in a moment, I’ll ask you to
officially join our campaign. But first, please allow me a chance to tell
you about what brings me to this decision.
I was born and raised on the south side of Stockton to a single mother
still in high school. My father has been incarcerated my entire life. So
you could say that I wasn’t set up for success because we didn’t grow up
with money. But that misses what we did have in abundance: the unshakeable
love of family, commitment to bettering our community, and our faith. My
three moms — my mom, aunt and grandmother — were not going to let me
become a statistic. They helped pave the path for me to go from poverty in
South Stockton to the classrooms at Stanford University.
[ [link removed] ]Michael with his mother at his college graduation ceremony.
While my life seemed to be heading in a certain direction, things were
very different for folks back home just an hour and a half away. In my
junior year at school (literally, while I was interning at the White
House), my cousin was tragically shot and killed at a Halloween party.
Stockton became one of the hardest-hit cities in the Great Recession.
[ [link removed] ]Michael, seen volunteering during the Obama presidential campaign.
I had to make a choice about what to do with my pain. Stanford opened up
opportunities I never knew existed. But as graduation approached, Stockton
was pulling me back. My purpose was in service. I ran for city council
instead after graduation, a move that many people scoffed at since I was
just 21 at the time. We created the city’s first Office of Violence
Prevention.
In 2016, I was elected as Stockton’s youngest ever and first Black mayor.
We launched the first local guaranteed income program in the nation and
created a one-of-a-kind scholarship fund to give every student in our city
a path to college or trade school.
We brought together community members, activists and abuelas from the
neighborhood to launch the Stockton Green New Deal.
And importantly, I partnered with the police chief to reduce homicides and
shootings by 40%.
Since I left office, I founded Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), a
coalition of mayors across the country advocating for a guaranteed income
to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to improve their lives.
Since our launch, we’ve worked with 150 mayors in piloting and advocating
for guaranteed income programs in their communities.
Building on our work with MGI, I helped to create End Poverty in
California (EPIC) because a state with as much resources and creativity as
California should not have the highest poverty rate in the country. I’ve
traveled to communities across California to hear the stories and ideas of
people living in poverty and help to educate the public and inform those
in positions of power.
I’m running for Lt. Governor because I believe California will become a
beacon of hope and a shining example, if we work together to tackle the
big challenges before us:
1. Creating opportunity for all.
2. Rapidly building housing to tackle our affordability crisis.
3. Leading the fight against climate change.
4. Expanding access to healthcare for every Californian regardless of
income.
5. Making our communities and our children safe.
6. Investing in technology and innovation to unleash prosperity across
the state.
Join me in choosing action over apathy. See this campaign not as mine, but
as ours. Together, we're going to write California's next chapter.
[ [link removed] ]Will you be one of the very first Founding Donors to our campaign?
Donate now on launch day so we can start strong and show early momentum.
[ [link removed] ]Become a Founding Donor →
This campaign is going to be fun. It’s going to be energizing. And I’m
psyched to have you all be part of it alongside me, my wife Anna, and our
kids.
We know nationally that reactionary politicians are using hostility and
negativity to distract from the real challenges holding us back. I’m not
naive to the difficulty of breaking through cynicism. But I also know that
we don’t have any other choice.
This is the time to do something different. To fight for something more
than the politics of division that has slowed our progress for far too
long.
We are going to run a campaign not about looking backward and assigning
blame, but about building energy and excitement for the future we can
build together. I can’t wait to get started, and I can’t wait to hear from
you all in this process.
The first step of that process is gathering support by recruiting as many
Founding Donors as we can to help us spread the good word. [ [link removed] ]So, please,
become a Founding Donor right now on our launch day to join this movement.
It would mean a lot to me.
[ [link removed] ]Become a Founding Donor →
Before I sign off, allow me to thank you from the bottom of my
heart…whether you can donate or not. Thank you for allowing me to
introduce myself and talk about why we’re running this race. Thank you for
believing in me, yourself and California. Thank you for being civically
engaged even as others lose hope.
You inspire me. And we will do great things for California together.
With love and gratitude,
Michael Tubbs
Candidate for Lt. Governor
[ [link removed] ]Michael Tubbs headshot.
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