Dear Friends,
From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
For a year I waged a campaign, not to be a state senator, but to give voice to people ignored and silenced by a system controlled by the few at the expense of the many. I never thought of this as “my” campaign, but one that belonged to those who believed we could make a difference.
I am proud to say that our efforts have inspired thousands, all with no support from big donors or power brokers. The team that came together — volunteers and professionals — became a family, friends for life and marchers who will stop at nothing to bring about significant change in our communities, state and nation.
To all those of you joined in that effort, I will be forever grateful.
Pete Harckham will now face the challenge of taking on Terrence Murphy. I encourage you to do what you can to defeat Terrence, whose staff continues to use the politics of anger and fear, character assassination and misrepresentation as their only campaign tactic. The people of this district deserve better.
By keeping the spirit of our campaign alive, we can indeed do better. Over the last year I talked about my mission to build coalitions across all 63 NYS Senate Districts, focusing on key issues facing New Yorkers – healthcare for all, reproductive healthcare protection, gun safety, campaign finance reform and environmental protections (to name a few). That mission has not changed.
I am establishing a nonpartisan organization, Coalition: New York, focused on building these coalitions. Together we will fight for the issues that are important to us, hold our legislators’ feet to the fire, and demand greater transparency and accountability from our state government. I hope you will join me on this venture and keep our movement alive, for together we will achieve great things.
Thank you for your support and encouragement over the past year… it has meant the world to me. Fortunately, this is not the end, but the beginning. We are just getting started. I look forward to working with all of you for a long time to come.
Best,
Robert
