Love Letter #9, Campaign Workers
Dear Campaign Workers,
5 days. We have 5 days until the work is done and the counting starts. 5 days until we take this nervous inhale and hold it. Hold it until our hope is delivered. You are surviving on fumes, cold pizza, not near enough sleep, jittery nerves, and more coffee than a mere mortal can accomodate.
I have never seen anything like this in Texas. We outpaced our final vote count from 2016 with a day to go to run it up. That has to mean good things for our outcome. I feel, officially, hopeful. Never have I witnessed so many new faces in the fight and fighting hard, speaking up, getting out of the their comfort zones and pushing. I appreciate the hell out of you all.
This love letter is to everyone who has spent their time, their treasure, their hope, sweat, blood, tears and even a little sanity on delivering this election. There are folks who have been at this for generations. They have never stopped for a second working to deliver a Texas that works for the people of Texas. We are standing in this moment on their shoulders. Because of them, we are here. Their devoted organizing, their ragged hope, their belief in the best of who we are. They have weathered nearly 40 years of what had to feel like a losing fight, but still they showed up.
This love letter is for all of the folx who are stepping into the fray for the first time. Welcome! I am so glad you are here. Thank you for making the calls, walking the blocks, donating the dollars. We are here because of you too. No matter what happens on Tuesday, I hope that you stay. We need you.
This love letter is for the seasoned staffers and strategist. The ones whose bodies know the rhythm of the days that seemingly never end and a goal post racing toward them. Thank you for being here. For organizing the newbies, for listening to the lived experience of the ones before us. Thank you for conceiving of brilliance and dealing with mundanity.
This love letter is for every single person who stepped out of comfort to vote, to talk to a friend about voting, to march, to engage in this wildly flawed democracy of ours. By stepping into this, you begin to own it. From that place we can start doing the work to fix it.
The love letter is for Team Nelson for Texas, 2018. I miss you guys right now. I see you out there working so hard to make this moment happen for us. I know personally how lucky those teams are to have you. I am so proud of you guys.
I know that no matter the outcome on Tuesday, I’ll wake up Wednesday knowing I did what I could to deliver the Biden/Harris ticket. That wasn’t true for the Wednesday after the election 4 years ago. I am betting there are a lot of us in that position.
This love letter is for all of you and with it my deepest gratitude and belief that we have much brighter days ahead. We have a democracy and our very humanity to save and you are rising to the moment.
Love,
Martha
P.S. Hang onto this immortal wisdom from Molly Ivins
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
