1/x Tomorrow we vote. I’m using this thread to put down some final thoughts about why I ran. I’m not sure how long it will be and these thoughts will not be in order. Reason #1: parents and families I met whose loved ones have developmental or emotional disabilities
2/x Parents with children with developmental or emotional disabilities taught me that they want for their children “a life like yours”, a safe home, a meaningful job, valued relationships, and a criminal justice system that protects and treats them fairly.
3/x These parents spend their lives emptying oceans with a spoon to make a place in the world for their kids. Meeting with them were some of the hardest but also rewarding days of the campaign and I learned from them far more than they learned from me.
4/x Reason #2: The kind of neighborhood every parent wants for their kids. The first time my son walked alone to school, I confess we followed him at a distance, even knowing we are blessed to live where we are. I want the same for all parents in our community
5/x No matter your race or economic background, I want to work to make every neighborhood a place where the only reason you’ll have a pit in your stomach when your little ones go off alone is because, in Baldwin’s phrase, their little legs are the only things holding them up.
6/x Reason # 3: Helping survivors of sexual assault. I had many conversations with survivors who noted that they didn’t feel comfortable reporting acquaintance rape, not just because they feared not being believed but also because they feared putting themselves through the system
7/x I was open on the trail that I myself am a survivor of sexual abuse, so I know the reasons for not reporting are immensely complex. As prosecutors, we need to consider victims’ perspectives and stories, not just to obtain a conviction but to fully vindicate and support them.
8/x Reasons #4: the tiny little computers so many young people now carry on their wrists and in their pockets that give them access to the world but can lead them to act in ways that violate the law without even realizing it.
9/x This is one area that can’t be neatly broken down into victims & offenders because when kids make mistakes on social media often both victim and offender are kids. Prosecutors are sometimes quick to import the adult frame of prosecution to kids with devastating consequences.
10/x This cuts across race, class, religion, and political and ideological lines and the more technology and social media advance the more prosecutors are going to need to be thoughtful and careful in how we approach this.
11/x Reason #5: before my own race, when canvassing for other candidates I’d come across people telling me they couldn’t vote. When I asked why, most were open they had a felony conviction. I’d asked how long ago. 5-10 years they’d say; they tried unsuccessfully to get it back
12/x Speaking to these individuals as they sat on their porch, worked on their cars, or cut their grass, I could not understand how denying them their right to vote made anyone safer. A CA does not directly control re-enfranchisement but she can (and should) advocate for it.
13/x Reason #6: because, even though our system is adversarial, the job of the prosecutor is unique. It is not to win at all costs but to promote safety, pursue truth, and do justice.
