Thank you for your support
Dear Friends:
Thank you all for supporting my taped-together campaign—and wild idea to change Texas politics.
Last night, I left the polls as it got dark to make sure I talked to the last voters of the evening. And I am glad I did because this campaign was never about me; it was always about you.
So, I want to wrap up this election cycle with a story.
The first and only candidate forum I was ever invited to during this election cycle was back in February in Stonewall, Texas. Like the other candidates, I stood up and briefly explained why I was running. I remember saying people always asked me why I would run as an Independent because I couldn't win. And I told a room full of people, "I know it would be tough to win, but that isn't the point."
I ran to find a different path forward for our politics at the state level—and that process begins with educating people on the reasons why they are so frustrated—and how those frustrations translate to policies that impact our daily lives, too often, negatively—in particular, in the Texas Hill Country. And, to me, the Hill Country is worth fighting for.
About three weeks ago, I ran into two older women who saw me that night in Stonewall. And one of those ladies looked at me and said about that night, "You made sense." They assured me that I had their vote.
To that end, we did win last night. We won because scores of people understand the role of state government in their lives on policy issues like land, water, and school finance. We won because the 30 – 40-year-old people I met were profoundly intelligent and hopeful for a different path forward. We won because not once in this campaign did one single person have a harsh word to say to me, or me to them, when we had a policy difference—not once.
We won because we are in the beginning stages of making a change. This quotation from the Grumet article about the campaign sums it all up perfectly: "Reshaping our partisan landscape will take time. But in the Hill Country, just as the grazing livestock help loosen the sunbaked ground to absorb the next rainfall, Sawin hopes her campaign can soften the political turf for new conversations to take root."
I leave you with this. My late brother Joe's birthday was yesterday. And I wore this watch he found so funny that he gave me as a present years ago: a genuine H. Ross Perot watch. Little did he know it would serve a practical purpose someday. And for him and for you, we move onward to the next steps in our journey!
Contact us
Questions about local issues, like land use and water, contact us
Campaign address
P.O. Box 12104
Austin, TX 78711