Friends, family, and people I love,
Recently, the voters of California’s 16th district cast their ballots for their next Representative in Congress. With the retirement of our wonderful congresswoman Anna Eshoo, this highly coveted seat was open for the first time in 32 years, and drew a wide array of candidates. Eleven in total, and with one exception, all guys.

I was that exception. I threw my hat into the ring because America is hurting on so many fronts, in ways that harm our youth most of all, and somewhere deep down in my bones I just knew that I could help. And how could we not have a woman in the race in this terrifying American moment?

In a campaign that only lasted three months, we assembled a truly stellar team, chased money, longed for time, and prayed we’d have enough of each to reach enough voters, voters who care about the issues we care about, voters who were ready for a different kind of leadership. We refused to take even a cent of corporate money, and instead powered our efforts entirely by appealing to the grassroots—people like you. On top of your support, we earned a number of endorsements from some incredible individuals and influential groups.

But in the end, it didn’t go the way we hoped. We were vastly outspent by career politicians who either raised huge sums of corporate-infused money, or are personally wealthy, or both! Their money plus their name ID won the day with primary voters, who as a group, tend not to reflect the diversity of the electorate broadly. So it goes.

What am I going to do? Well, after only three short months on the campaign trail, I know with greater certainty than ever that there is plenty of work to be done not just in America writ large, but right here at home in Northern California. We need to build housing, period. We need to transition to clean energy and prepare to defend ourselves against the climate-related changes that have already come, and those which are still to come. We need to figure out why the mental health of our youth is so poor, and what we’re going to do about it. We need to build a city, a region, a human community where everyone experiences belonging. And even though it feels safer to be a woman or trans or gender nonbinary here in our beloved California, we cannot be complacent. We need to stand up and fight for these rights, because yes, our lives and the lives of others elsewhere depend on it.

I want to offer a sincere and heartfelt thank you to YOU—whether you opened your head and heart to learn more about what I stand for, whether you pushed and prodded me, and made me stronger or held me accountable, whether you opened your home for an event, or reached into your wallet to help us reach folks far beyond you, whether you took a lawn sign or ten, or you worked a farmer’s market or knocked on doors, whether you sent me an encouraging handwritten note, an email, a message on social media or a text, whether you amplified our campaign by telling people in your network why you believed in us, I’m just so damn grateful and frankly honored that you thought I could— and should—do this.

And to just be super real for a moment … Six days ago, when the results came in and we’d placed even below our worst expectations, I felt I’d let YOU down, and my campaign team as well. Also my family. Even my kids! But I was immediately buoyed by your messages of praise for the campaign we ran, and by a feeling shared by so many that our campaign helped folks feel a degree of optimism, hope, and energy that you haven’t felt in quite some time. I felt it too, and I want us all to keep feeling it.

While we probably wouldn’t have chosen to live in this American and global moment where so much is broken, scary, or just wrong, it IS nevertheless our moment, and we’re the ones who are rising up in our own way to fight for what’s right. Even though we didn’t win this Congressional campaign, the better future you and I yearn for is possible. So, ask yourself what YOU’RE going to take on next in order to help make things better, and drop me a line about it if you want to. As for me, it’s clear to me that I love public service and there’s so much good work to do right here in Palo Alto.

Remember: I root for humans. I was in it for all of us. I still am.

XO,