An Open Letter to my Fellow Democrats

I was just in Philadelphia to meet with our state party leadership and the Democratic National Convention staff. We are just 65 days away from nominating the 45th President of the United States, and I want to share what I told our Democratic leaders with all of you. As Democrats from all across this great country make their plans to travel to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, I’m looking forward to seeing them energized, united, and focused on making sure that we continue to build upon the progress we’ve made under President Obama.

We Can’t Overstate the Importance of this Election

This has already been an incredible election season. In the Democratic Party, disagreement is healthy. We embrace it. I have admired the campaigns of both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton as they and their passionate supporters have argued the issues and our candidates brought real solutions to the table. New voters and independents sharing our progressive ideals make our party stronger. We have seats to win in every state up and down the ballot along with the presidential race. So we want the voters energized by this primary to bring their views to the ballot box and influence the outcome.

We all know how high the stakes are — it’s hard to forget with Donald Trump’s daily reminders of his knee-jerk recklessness, lack of judgment, and unstable temperament. We are up against a man who has vowed to slash taxes for those at the top while refusing to release his own tax returns. He refuses to address his well–documented history of misogyny. He has insulted our allies in the UK and legitimized a despotic dictator in North Korea.

We can’t gloss over the genuine concern that, as President Obama has said, too many Americans are still worried about their own pocketbooks and our place in the world. While Trump is promoting anxiety and fear as ways to ease people’s concern, our candidates are promoting thoughtful, respectful, and effective solutions. I am confident that we will channel the passion and energy from our primary into unity behind a common purpose — to continue the progress we’ve made under President Obama and to keep the White House out of Donald Trump’s hands.

The DNC Has the Tools to Help Democrats Win

I became Chair of the DNC in 2011, right after the Tea Party handed us some tough losses, including majorities in Congress. But the down-ballot losses we’ve experienced matter just as much. We have been working hard to reverse those losses. And this year, we want to make sure we’re strongly supporting state parties so they can stop the destruction and obstruction Republicans are so fond of at the state and local level.

At the DNC, we’ve been focused on making sure we’re doing everything we can in every state so that as a party, we aren’t just good at winning presidential races. We are providing more funding, more infrastructure, more rocket fuel to keep the engines of our state parties firing on all cylinders and holding Republicans in office and in elections accountable. We do this by:

• Funding direct mail campaigns to reach voters and get them to the polls on Election Day
• Providing critical staff salaries under our state party partnerships
• Training state party staff in key communications, digital, and organizing skills
• Sharing our deep research and communications resources
• Building our state-of-the-art voter file

That’s why I’m proud every time I walk through the doors of Democratic Headquarters — seeing our staff hard at work pushing back against Republicans at every level, using every tool in our toolbox, makes me confident that the future of our party is bright.

Today I will make this pledge to you: I will always stand up for party activists because they bring us energy and ideas. I will always stand up for the leaders of this party because they volunteer their precious time to guide our progressive future.

But here’s what I’m asking of you, in return: When the work is hard, and passions run hot, and the road looks long, never forget the Americans we are fighting for.

This week, while reporters were writing story after story about party discord, marked the first time in our nation’s history that more than 90% of Americans have access to affordable healthcare. Because we elected a Democrat in 2008 and 2012, 20 million Americans have health insurance who didn’t before. And this month, we celebrated 74 consecutive months of private-sector job growth, generating over 14 million news jobs for American workers. When we come together as Democrats, we can accomplish great things for honest, hard-working people from every walk of life. That’s what’s important. That’s what we cannot let out of our sight.

I’m excited for the future of our party, and I’m proud of every Democrat working for a brighter future. On to victory!