It’s been five years since Hurricane Harvey hit Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast.  It was a defining moment for our community and for our campaign.

Harvey arrived five years ago today, bringing more than 50 inches of rain and more than $125 billion in damage.  It also brought some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten for trying times, advice I think of each day: Just show up.

After Harvey, so many people wanted to help but were unsure of just how — where to go, what to do.  The message came back loud and clear: Just show up.  And they did.  Houstonians showed up for each other everywhere that people were needed.  At shelters.  At flooded homes.  At food pantries.  The outpouring of help and support during Harvey remains its definition for many.

For me, Harvey’s enduring lesson is that one: When there are problems to solve, when there are people in need, when there is work to do, you don’t need to wait to be asked to help, and you don’t need to know exactly what to do, you just need to care and to be there to do what you can.

It’s been five years, but it is as true today as it was then.  Because we have real problems to solve in our community and in our country.  And each of us can do something about it.  We just have to show up.  

Vote.  Get other people to vote.  Knock on doors for a candidate.  Make phone calls.  Send texts.  Write postcards.  Remind people how much their vote matters.  And how much we can do if we all just show up in November — in Texas and across the country.

So many of you already are and I’m so grateful to you for that.

Together, we can do anything,