Thank You!

I don’t know if it was the excitement of winning, the outpouring of support, or all the caffeine I consumed while crunching return numbers from the precincts, but I didn’t get much sleep last night. The last twenty-four hours have been a blur, so I want to send out a bulk “Thank You.”

I am trying to return every call and text, as well as reply to messages online. And that is exactly why we won last night—because of people like you. It would be dishonest and unfair of me to say, “I won,” because I only cast one vote. We won because of your support.

I’m not sure if we should call it a traditional campaign or something out of the ordinary, but it was truly a grassroots movement. I never put an ad in any newspaper or cut a commercial for the radio; I didn’t send a postcard or make robo calls. I just tried to explain what I stand for, and then asked you to spread the word.

You retweeted. You liked. You shared. You favorited. You donated. You put up signs. You came to fundraisers. You told your friends to vote. I could not have won without the #MannFann movement.

Don’t get me wrong—I wanted to put ads in the paper, and I hope to send out postcards ahead of the November election, but I just didn’t have the funds to do those things. We raised just over $2,000, and we spent roughly $1,800, most of which was on yard signs. From my very first speech I billed myself as, “a self-proclaimed tightwad, an unapologetic cheapskate” that knows, “how to stretch every dollar and pinch every penny.” While I vowed to take that mindset to Columbia, it also rang true on our shoestring campaign budget.

Which is what makes me so thankful for you. I’ll take a handful of eager supporters over a check from a PAC any day. My largest donation was $100; many gave $10 or less. In the end, it was your votes and enthusiasm that pushed us to victory.

It was you recent graduates who educated yourself to the process and voted for the first time; it was you grandparents who had never cast a vote before yesterday; it was those of you who left for work early, gave up your lunch break, or had a late dinner because you went to the polls. I can’t thank you enough.

I also want to say thank you to Alicia, Reagan, TJ, and the rest of our family for supporting us through this crazy life change. My wife has been my number one supporter, and she deserves more praise than I can give her.

We can’t stop now. I’m going to be asking you to do it all again this fall. Together, we can keep demanding better. Thank you!