Team,

I wanted to send you a quick note as we’re just getting off the road. This has been one of the most energizing weekends on the campaign. It found us in nine of the thirteen different counties in this district in just under 48 hours. We traveled 600 miles and held 9 canvasses and events in Wimberley, Marble Falls, Lampasas, Killeen, Copperas Cove, Burleson, Hillsboro, Clifton, and as Burleson straddles both Johnson and Tarrant counties, we launched events on both sides of the county line.

You may have followed along if you saw our Facebook live streams from the road but I wanted to share a few thoughts while they were still fresh.

In Wimberley, we had a good discussion around making sure that we’re getting every single person in the state high-quality healthcare and the best possible public education. We also talked about what it will take for us to finish the work we started in 2018 with a victory in 2020. Very grateful to all who came out to the Leaning Pear and for sharing your thoughts and your energy with our campaign.

We began our day on Saturday at Johnson Park in Marble Falls to launch a canvass, and it was really exciting to see the energy around making sure that we’re expanding on the gains we made in Burnet County.

In Lampasas a few hours later, we were met with a small but enthusiastic crew who is ready to do the work it will take to flip this district and as many state house and state senate seats as we can in the process as well.

In Killeen, we had a great canvass, and that’s my favorite part of this work -- getting out, meeting our fellow Texans where they are, listening to what they truly care about. It's the best way to campaign, and it’s the only way to win.

We finished the day hearing from people in Copperas Cove. Whether it's honoring our commitments to deployed and active duty service members and making sure we’re ending our foreign wars, getting big money out of Congress, or combating the devastating effects of climate change in Texas, it will take a massive mobilization. We know Texas can lead and Texans deserve someone who will fight for them in the House.

The next day, Matt joined us in the station wagon, and it was fun for him to be with us and pass the time on the drive up to Burleson, at the far north end of the district -- where we continue to invest our time and energy in building the infrastructure it will take to win in 2020. We rallied on the Johnson County side of Burleson and then block walked on the Tarrant County side.

We had a lot of new canvassers ready to get out and have the conversations at the doorstep that it will take to make the difference in this race, and it was a fantastic day to get out and knock doors and meet our fellow Texans. I was grateful for the opportunity to talk about getting big money and special interest money out of our politics so that we can actually get Congress to work on the important issues facing our communities, and we talked about how in order to build on the gains we made in 2018, we’re all going to need to step out of our comfort zones and stay organized -- and how effective that is in achieving wins for our communities.

From Burleson, we headed to Hillsboro, and before launching our canvass and training folks, I really appreciated getting to listen to those gathered from Hill county, including a young woman who was just about to ship out for Naval boot camp who had been told that training might be cut short so that they could be deployed overseas early. It was clear that there is strong opposition to what this administration is doing in Iran.

We finished the day in Clifton with a lively round table discussion around slices of pizza, Dr. Pepper, and cheesy bread at the local pizza joint in town. As it had all weekend, our conversation centered on organizing -- how our grassroots strategy to win is a 13-county strategy, and how we’re building the volunteer-led movement it will take to win in 2020, and what that looks like in Bosque County. We trained everyone on some of our distributed organizing tools, and we had a great conversation on how we’re going to do right by retired teachers in Texas, and expanding the right to vote in this country. Even in deep rural Texas, voting rights is an issue on so many people’s minds as we’re fighting to maintain this democracy of ours. I believe in us and in our ability to organize and achieve sustainable positive change.

Heading into this week, even with the constant barrage of news as the president threatens to drag us into another war, I’m reminded that in this moment, after so many good conversations and the warm welcome and support we feel from the communities all over, that it is up to us to make change. And I know we’re more than ready to meet this moment by coming together, and I'm ready to be an informed and engaged representative in the House for every person in this district.

Feeling very lucky to be part of this with you, and grateful for the opportunity.

Julie

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