Together

No one person — not even the best candidate you could possibly imagine — can win a U.S. Senate seat in Texas by themselves.

There is only one way.

Together.

When we launched this campaign, I had no idea what to expect. There were a number of people who had encouraged me to run. My interview with Joe Rogan got a lot of attention, and even President Obama had some kind words to say about me during the Texas redistricting fight.

But the biggest question in my mind was whether or not we could build the grassroots movement capable of not just taking on the Republican nominee but also the billionaire mega-donors in this country who have rigged our politics and pitted neighbor against neighbor for their own profit.

I soon got an answer to my question.

Twelve hours after announcing the launch of our campaign, we held a rally in Round Rock, Texas. I was reviewing my speech as we drove up and got a bit worried about arriving on time as we got stuck in traffic.

Turns out the traffic was from everyone else trying to get to our event…

More than 1,000 people showed up that night. And at that rally, I announced that we had raised our first $1 million — within the first 12 hours of launching — powered by people contributing $5, $10, $50 at a time to our campaign.

From there, we were off…

Since that launch, more than 40,000 volunteers have joined our team — organizing in every corner of the state.

Some have even started their own volunteer meetups across the state. And they’re not just trying to win votes — during the SNAP food assistance crisis, our volunteers organized visits to food banks to help others.

We have held rallies across Texas, joined by hundreds and thousands of people at almost every stop.

More than 500,000 people have contributed to our campaign, a number that actually gives us a chance to win this race against the extraordinary amount of money that will be spent to defeat us in a general election.

And now, we are leading in the polls against our opponent Ken Paxton.

So, no ... I am no longer worried about whether or not we can mobilize the grassroots effort required to win this race.

It’s already happening all across Texas.

But what is most gratifying to me is that people are coming together not just to support or defeat a candidate, they are volunteering their time and money for something greater than that.

In my faith tradition, Jesus famously summed up his teachings into two commandments: love God and love thy neighbor.

“Politics” is just another word for how we treat our neighbors.

When someone volunteers their time or contributes their hard-earned money, they are doing it because they want a job with good benefits; a well-funded public school; and the ability to see a doctor when they need one -- not just for themselves but for others who they may not know or never will.

That is the promise — and the potential — of this campaign. Not just to win a race, but to transform the way people treat their neighbors in Texas and in this country. And we’re doing it together

Thank you for being a part of this movement,

James Talarico