Team,

We’ve finally made it over the finish line and next January, I’ll officially begin my third term in Congress. Representing Michigan’s 8th district has been the greatest honor of my life, and I’m thrilled that the voters saw fit to re-elect me to the 7th district, even in a tough political environment.

I wanted to send a note to say thank you. You’ve been on this journey with me for quite a while, and none of this could have happened without your support. I also want to send you a video of my remarks from earlier today, which you can watch here.

Your support allowed us to operate a far-reaching field operation that made more than 1.8 million attempts to reach voters this cycle, including more than 670,000 calls, more than 85,000 doors knocked and more than 1 million texts sent. A resounding theme of our results was our overperformance in Republican-leaning counties and rural areas. Here are some key takeaways from the data:

• We won Eaton County, a place we worked especially hard in because it’s Sen. Tom Barrett’s home county, by nearly 3% (50.5%-47.2%).

  • We won the City of Grand Ledge by 16% and Windsor Charter Township by 5%.

• We increased our 2020 margin in conservative Livingston County by nearly 2%.

  • We won the City of Howell by 13 votes – the first time in recent history that a congressional Democrat carried the city.

  • We won the City of Brighton by over 8%, increasing our 2020 margin in Brighton by 6%.

• In Clinton County, which was new to us, we ran over 5% ahead of the 2020 congressional Democrat.

  • We won the City of Dewitt by 17% and Dewitt Township by 12% – flipping towns that congressional Republicans won in 2020.

Thanks to your support, our campaign executed an unprecedented campus organizing effort. Thousands of Michigan State University students registered and voted, including over a thousand students just Tuesday. 

This campaign has been based around the idea that our country is going through something right now – but that we can get through it as long as we have two things: engaged citizens and principled leaders. I’m incredibly lucky that mid-Michigan is filled with engaged citizens that care deeply about their communities and their country. People who volunteered their nights and weekends to make phone calls, knock doors, or even bring me and my team a home cooked meal. 

I’m given hope by people like you and everyone I’ve met in the new 7th who have gotten up off the sidelines. Thank you again for all of your help throughout the past year. We truly could not have done any of this without you. Now, the work continues as I look to be the principled leader Michigan’s 7th district deserves.

Elissa