Dear Friends,

This week, we celebrated the 61st Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid — pillars of health and financial security for the American people alongside Social Security and the Affordable Care Act. 

Dear Friends,

Sunday marks 100 days before the November elections and several things are becoming very clear.

It is clear that the cruel, inept, wasteful and shameful policies of MAGA Republicans in the White House and the Congress are harming all of us — especially America’s working families and the most vulnerable among us.

Dear Friends,

Six years ago, we lost my friend and colleague and our hero Congressman John Lewis — the Conscience of the Congress. As we mark the anniversary of his passing, we honor John’s life of courageous service and faith in action.  His call to make “Good Trouble” has never been more urgent or prophetic.  It is in causing good, necessary trouble that we will bring America closer to our ideals of liberty and justice for all.  

Dear Friends,

From Day One of this Administration, YOU — our Volunteers in Politics — have joined us in working hard to raise awareness of all the terrible things the President and Republicans in Congress were doing and to inspire others to take action to stop them. We called into Republican-held California Districts to push back against Trump’s Big Ugly Bill and fight to Save Our Health Care. We created community and momentum to pass Prop

Dear Friends,

Happy 4th of July — America’s Independence Day!

In the Declaration of Independence, our Founders set forth a vision of a government that derives its powers from the consent of the governed — guided by the self-evident truths that all men are created equal and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Dear Friends,

Each week, it becomes clearer that We the People are not being served by the President, the Supreme Court and MAGA Republicans in Congress — whether it’s nearly 776,000 children losing SNAP benefits from the Republican Majority’s Big Ugly Bill, the tragic anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe and reproductive freedom, or the President canceling a bipartisan housing bill signing. 

Dear Friends,

On Juneteenth, we commemorate June 19th, 1865 — the day that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, TX, and Major General George Granger declared over 250,000 enslaved Black Americans in Texas free —  delivering news of liberation nearly two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the Civil War ended.

Dear Friends,

Every day, I am proud to represent San Francisco in the House. But it is a special privilege to do so during Pride Month — as I bring our San Francisco values of love, respect, unity and community wherever I go.

Dear Friends,

Tuesday, June 2nd, marked the anniversary of my swearing-in as a Member of Congress in 1987. At that time there were only 23 women Members of the House, 12 Democrats and 11 Republicans — among the 435 Representatives of the House. Shocking! As a former Chair of the California Democratic Party, I made it a mission to elect more women. Today, I am happy to say there are 96 Democratic women House members — and we want more!

Dear Friends,

Today, I proudly voted for Connie Chan for Congress, with my colleague and friend, Senator Adam Schiff, and joined by John Doherty of the IBEW.  It is personally meaningful to me that we gathered at North Beach Library because my very first role in public service was on the San Francisco Library Commission. Connie’s story is the American dream: coming to this country as a young girl, learning English in public schools and watching her mother build a better life through education and hard work.

Dear Friends,

Donald Trump is slashing food assistance for working families while steering $1.8 billion toward pardoned January 6th rioters who violently assaulted police officers. Once again, he is putting himself, his loyalists and his wealthy donors ahead of America’s families and our Democracy — and the American people are paying the price.

Dear Friends,

Has it ever been clearer that Donald Trump doesn’t care for working families or the American people?   As he said in his own words: “Not even a little bit … I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.” Instead — as usual — he is only thinking of himself. He is urging Republican legislatures across the South to roll back voting rights protections for Black voters and targeting Congressional Black Caucus members to rig the midterms, aided by a complicit Supreme Court.

Dear Friends,

When my children would ask me what I wanted for Mother’s Day, I would say, “Good Behavior.”  And on the eve of Mother’s Day weekend, MAGA Republicans are CLEARLY NOT on good behavior.  

Friends,

The right to vote is the most sacred right we have in our Democracy — one that countless individuals from all corners of life have marched, fought, bled, and died for.

Dear Friends,

When the “President” reached out to Texas Republicans, telling them he was “entitled” to 5 more House seats, he thought they would get away with it.  

But then California voters responded by overwhelmingly passing Prop 50.  The victorious YES campaign in Virginia is the latest example of voters reminding politicians that true power belongs to the people.

While our friends in Virginia were knocking on doors, our volunteers in California were on the phones. We made 451,824 calls to Virginia voters and with a margin of victory of 98,092 votes — we can see and feel the power of grassroots mobilization. 

Dear Friends,

We are at this moment of truth. The road to taking back the House goes through Virginia — the place where the American experiment all started with the first House of Burgesses passing the first bill for independence from England. And Virginia is where America will be strengthened when Virginians vote YES by April 21^st —  just like we did in California for Proposition 50. 

Dear Friends

My beloved friend and colleague of over 30 years in the Congress, our American hero John Lewis, wrote in his final letter to us that, “Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part.” We must all accept his challenge and do our part — as we insist on the truth.

The truth is that Donald Trump's instability is clearer and more dangerous than ever.  He impulsively began a war with no plan and no authority — even threatening to eliminate a whole civilization, “never to be brought back again.”  If the Cabinet is not willing to invoke the 25th Amendment and restore sanity, Republicans must reconvene Congress to end this war.

Dear Friends,

Nearing America’s 250^th birthday, it is not a matter for debate that our Founders did not want a king; that was the whole point of the American Revolution and the guiding principle of our Constitution. The separation of powers, including the power of the purse residing in the Congress, was essential to their vision. Sadly, the Republicans in Congress have essentially abolished the institution this term and have folded to the will of the Executive Branch – a betrayal of Article I and an insult to that vision from our Founders and the intelligence of the American people.

Dear Friends,

As we observe No Kings Day, it is increasingly obvious that we are in a fight about whether we will be governed by the whims of a cruel autocrat who wants to control our bodies, our life choices, our voting data and our ability to vote – or if We The People will maintain our ability to live freely in beloved community.

Dear Friends,

Rather than honoring his campaign vow to bring costs down and work on fixing problems here at home, the President began a war of choice with Iran instead that is showing no signs of ending any time soon – and he did this without Congressional approval. After working to abolish the constitutional role of the Congress this past year, Trump’s latest offense is an extreme abuse of power, an act of disrespect and disregard for our military and an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars that should be going toward restoring vital health care for millions of Americans.