Congratulations to Aisha Chughtai who will serve as the next Ward 10 City Council Member.
We didn't win this time. But I am so grateful for all of you.
From the very beginning we wanted to run a campaign that was about more than electing me to serve as your council member. We wanted the campaign to be an act of creating community. Here are some of the ways we did that:
Hosted a Japanese Children's Day Festival.
Moderated four community conversations.
Threw FIVE summer parties -- one in each of our neighborhoods.
Organized a Ward 10 Small Business Summit.
Created a community quilting art project.
We also didn't want to buy this seat, which is why we had volunteer canvassers and I personally knocked on every street in this ward. We were the little campaign that could and we came in 2nd in one of the most highly contested and highest spending races in the history of Minneapolis city council races.
So many of you made these events and our canvassing possible. This was OUR campaign. The beautiful thing about any project that relies upon and cultivates the creation of community is that no matter the outcome, those relationships remain. I feel more deeply connected to Ward 10, and I have learned so much from so many of you.
The other beautiful thing about a campaign like this is that it can serve as the foundation for the future. As caring members of the community--as peacekeepers--we are called upon to model political engagement and political action that leaves no one behind and that listens before leaping. Let's keep talking, let's keep celebrating, let's stay in touch and find ways to do the most good.
People ask me if I'm exhausted and the truth is, meeting our neighbors, listening to the issues we face and thinking about possible solutions, crafting ways of expressing the common truths tying us all together that have now become part of the larger political dialogue, these things excite and inspire me. I end this campaign feeling stronger and more energized. I hope you feel the same way.
Onward!
