Subject: Thank you
From: "Andrei Cherny " <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:24:26 -0400

Dear John,

Our kids, Ben and Belle, are too young to remember this campaign years from now, but one day they’ll probably ask about the time their dad ran for Congress.

I’ll tell them about what a tough decision it was for their mom and I, but about how we decided to take on this challenge because we thought I might be able to do something about a middle class that was disappearing, schools that weren’t working, a politics that was increasingly polarized, and a country where we had added on trillions of dollars in debt with little to show for it.

I’ll tell them about the amazing group of friends who walked away from their jobs to join our staff and the incredible volunteers who braved the hottest summer in history to knock on doors because they believed in this cause.

I’ll tell them about the great leaders like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Terry Goddard, Phil Gordon, Jim Pederson, Rae Waters, Dennis Kavanaugh, Michael Nowakowski and Ruben Gallego who stood up for us in a divisive primary.

And I’ll tell them about all those who supported our campaign with their own hard-earned dollars because of how much they believed in me and what I was trying to accomplish.

I will be forever grateful to every person who has done so much to support me.  While I will do all I can in the years to come to repay that kindness, I do not think there could possibly be enough years to do so.

We came up short, but I will always be proud of the campaign we ran. We focused on big ideas.  We steered clear of the character attacks.  We ran on issues that matter.  And I hope you’ll always be proud of being part of this campaign as well.

I’ve spoken often in this campaign about the small upstairs apartment I grew up in and about the ladder of opportunity that our country provided to me and so many others.  My family moved out of that apartment more than twenty years ago, but earlier this month I went back to that apartment building for the first time in many years to look around.  I walked up the stairs to Apartment 18 and there, on the doorbell, it still had my family’s name.

I don’t know how many families have lived in that apartment over the past decades and who lives there now.  I don’t know their name or the color of their skin or whether their family is new to this country or lived here for centuries.  But I’m sure they have the same dreams and hopes for themselves that my family had years ago.

Standing up for all the families in all the Apartment 18s all over this country was a cause worth fighting for.  And that fight will continue.

One hundred years ago today, on August 29, 1912, one of my heroes – Woodrow Wilson – spoke at a picnic in Pennsylvania about this same cause.  He said, “I don't have to have the office to do the fighting. I have enlisted for life, and I don't have to be an officer. I can shoot just as straight as a private.”

He won his campaign that year.  We lost.  But the truth of what he said remains.  I will remain faithful to the cause we fought for as a private – and a private citizen – for all the years to come.

I will never find the words to adequately convey how honored, humbled, and grateful I am for all those who gave so much to this campaign, so on behalf of Stephanie and myself, I’ll simply say, “Thank you.”

All the best,

Andrei

Paid for by Andrei for Arizona

P.O. Box 23838
Tempe, AZ 85281

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