10/22/2026
You can’t cram for an election the night before.
I have always believed that successful campaigns are built in the spring and summer, not in the final days of October.
It’s a little like that test in high school. You could stay up all night cramming, but there was no substitute for doing the work, attending class, and preparing throughout the semester.
My 2026 campaign began on February 2nd, the night of the Iowa caucuses, when we started collecting signatures to get my name on the ballot.
Since then, it’s been months of steady, sustained work. Building relationships, communicating with voters, sharing the work of the Treasurer’s Office, and making sure people know who I am, who are on the leadership/management team I’ve built in the Treasurer’s office, and what we have accomplished in making this office more efficient and responsive to taxpayers.
From July through September alone, our Facebook and Instagram campaign generated 117,000 unique views, 6,500 engagements, and 18 different advertisements. Those numbers represent a sustained effort to communicate with voters long before Election Day. Additionally, we have systematically texted voters, gotten our message out in targeted Google ads, expanded our Facebook group among other social media placemaking efforts, and done the old fashioned shoe leather events to meet voters where they are at throughout the summer & fall.
And now, with November 3 approaching, I like to say the cake is baked!
That doesn’t mean the work is finished. Far from it. It means the foundation has been laid, the preparation has been done, and the focus shifts to making sure voters have every opportunity to participate.
Over the past two weeks, our campaign efforts have become part of the coordinated Democratic Party effort to get out the vote, encourage early voting, and help voters return their absentee ballots.
I’m proud of the time, energy, and consistency I’ve put into this campaign since February. I’ve approached it much the same way I approach my responsibilities as Linn County Treasurer: show up, do the work, be consistent, and take nothing for granted.
You can’t manufacture nine months of preparation in the final nine days.
Now we finish what we started.
