HI AREA 4,

Thank you. Thank you for every vote, every view, every message, every text, every share, every email, every conversation, and every read. Thank you to every person who stopped to talk with me, challenged me, encouraged me, offered input, volunteered, donated, put up a sign, opened their home, or simply gave this campaign a chance. Thank you to every vendor who helped us produce what we needed, every printer who printed our literature, and every press that helped turn our ideas into the materials you saw throughout Area 4.

What we built together in just 53 days still amazes me, and I remain so humbled by it. I hope you could see and feel the love, energy, passion, and respect in everything we created, from our logo and lawn signs to our literature, banners, events, and emails. Every detail, large or small, was intentional and designed to reflect how deeply we care about our parks, our neighborhoods, our families, our seniors, and the community we all call home. This campaign was never some giant political operation. It was you, me, Area 4, and our community.

And before I ever filed, there were the people who pushed me to believe I could actually do this, especially the person who first told me I should run. You know who you are. 😉 My community, my family, my friends, and the incredible mentors who were there from that August 6 decision onward. You listened when I questioned whether I should run, let me vent, let me cry, challenged me when I needed it, reminded me why this mattered, and stood beside me through every high and every low that followed. You all know exactly who you are. I love you more than I can put into words, and I will never be able to thank you enough for helping me find the courage to take that first step.

I am honored that, with less than a day to make that decision, I WAS THE LAST CANDIDATE IN ALAMEDA COUNTY TO QUALIFY FOR THE ALAMEDA COUNTY BALLOT.

From the day I filed, I knew what kind of race I was walking into. I had less than 24 hours to decide whether to put my name on the ballot, and I was reluctant because I knew how much time, energy, emotional toll, financial sacrifice, and commitment running a campaign would require. But the more I looked at the record of our appointed representative, the more convinced I became that Area 4 deserved better. If I did not step forward, our appointed director would have automatically been appointed to another four-year term.

To this day, he still has not offered meaningful responses to many of the questions residents asked. He avoided residents throughout the election and acted entitled to another four years without ever having to answer directly to the people he represented. And when I tried to hold our appointed director accountable, I was called disrespectful and even a “mosquito.”

At the same time, many of my non-resident critics and those within the establishment simply told residents to vote for our long-serving appointed representative, but rarely explained why they believed he had earned another four years, what his plans were, or what vision he had for Area 4 over the next four years. My opponent rarely spoke for himself throughout this election. Instead, others repeatedly spoke on his behalf while simultaneously insisting they were not his “spokesperson.”

On top of all of that, when we officially launched, we knew that going up against a 19-year, three-time appointed director who falsified “INCUMBENT” on his ballot was going to be an uphill battle from day one. We also knew we were not just running against one opponent, but against an establishment that included a network of staff, employees, organizations, and long-standing “political” relationships, while we were starting from scratch with no “political” endorsements and were not even invited into many of those rooms.

We had only weeks to introduce ourselves, build an entire campaign from nothing, earn the trust of residents, persuade as many groups and organizations as possible to give us a chance to speak, and try to give Area 4 as fair a choice as we could. In all honesty, the establishment made sure nearly everything was stacked against us.

Despite everything going against us from day one, somewhere along the way, this race became very different from what people expected. What journalists, political commentators, and critics covering the election initially assumed would be a blowout against a first-time candidate instead became a race they are now describing as a "nail-biter" and one of the final races worth watching because the outcome remains unsettled. Whatever the final count shows, the fact that a campaign built from nothing in only 53 days could make this race competitive says something powerful about what can happen when residents decide that long-standing political establishments and out-of-touch representation deserve to be challenged.

As the race became more competitive, what I thought would primarily be a campaign about policy also became far more personal than I ever expected. For weeks, I endured constant personal attacks, rude comments, unprovoked and biased accusations, misinformation, campaign materials and eight-foot vinyl banners being stolen, damage to my property including slashed tires, and blatant racism directed at me and my communities of color. There were also people spreading unwarranted lies and false information about me who had never met me, never had a conversation with me, and in many cases did not even live in Area 4.

That part of this campaign was deeply disappointing. I never expected that simply putting my name on a ballot and asking questions about our parks, public spending, representation, and accountability would require enduring that level of hostility for weeks.

But we rose above it. We defended ourselves when we had to. We fought back against the hate, refused to be intimidated, and kept bringing the conversation back to Area 4, our residents, our parks, and the issues that caused me to run in the first place.

And that was why we kept going. We ran anyway. We built anyway. We asked the questions anyway. With each passing day, more people began paying attention to an election and a District that many residents had never thought much about before.

THERE WAS NO SECRET POLITICAL MACHINE. I AM NOT A POLITICIAN.

There was me. There were our neighbors, community leaders, residents, friends, volunteers, and supporters. There were people who believed Area 4 deserved a choice and that there was nothing wrong with asking whether our community could expect more from its representation.

We built this together.

Area 4 gave me an opportunity I never expected, and you gave a first-time candidate a chance to be heard. You gave me the opportunity to ask questions that needed to be asked, put new ideas on the table, talk about representation, talk about our parks, talk about seniors, talk about public money, and remind people that their voices mattered in what happened here.

And together, in 53 days, we did it all. We built the campaign. We told our story. We asked the questions. We stood our ground. We gave Area 4 a choice.

That meant more to me than I can adequately put into words. There were no years of planning behind this. There was no giant organization waiting to launch. We took what we had, believed in what Area 4 could become, and built something together in 53 days. There was so much more I wanted to do and so much more we had planned, but between responding to FPPC and Secretary of State matters, dealing with dirty politics, and simply running out of time, we could not get to everything. Fifty-three days disappeared faster than I ever imagined.

And maybe that is the part of this experience I most want other residents to remember. If you have ever looked at your city, your district, your neighborhood, or your local government and thought, someone should step up, maybe that someone is you.

If you are thinking about running for office because you believe your community needs a different voice, call me. I am serious. I will sit down with you, tell you everything I learned, show you what worked, tell you what did not, and help you build your campaign from the ground up.

Look at what we built in 53 days, starting with nothing. Imagine what we could have built with three months, six months, or a year, the time most candidates have to prepare.

That may be one of the biggest lessons I took away from this experience. More people should run. More residents should step forward. Leadership should not belong only to the same people who have held office for years or decades. If you believe your community deserves another choice, put your name on the ballot. Someone may already be waiting for you to do it.

And no matter where the final count lands, one thing will never change:

NO MATTER WHAT, WE DID THIS TOGETHER.

Whatever happens when every vote is counted, I have so much to be thankful for. I will never forget these 53 days, the people I met, the stories you shared with me, the lessons I learned, the support I felt, or the opportunity this community gave me.

When you look back at this campaign, I hope you remember that it came from a genuine love for the place we call home. I hope you saw that in every email, every proposal, every event, every question, every sign, and every conversation. Most of all, I hope we proved that you do not need a political machine to step forward. Sometimes, you just need a community, an idea, and the willingness to try.

And this is not the last you will see of me. We are not done yet. There is still more to build, more to ask, more to learn, and more to do for the place we call home.

But until then, thank you, Area 4.

So, for one last time as your candidate running for H.A.R.D. Director, Area 4, thank you.