This has been a hard week. It seems too much to bear to hear the news of another mass shooting. Many people I’ve spoken with are overwhelmed and discouraged. It’s tempting to crawl into a hole and tune it all out. But we can’t stop trying to make a safer future.

So much is still unfolding about the tragedy in Las Vegas, and it’s unsettling to not be able to answer the question, “What makes a mind want to kill?” We may never be able to answer that question.

Many political experts said that if we couldn’t get common sense gun legislation after Sandy Hook, that we’d never get it. I don’t believe that’s true.

Because when Sandy Hook happened, we did not have the organized activism that we have today. We did not have the resistance. Now we do. And that’s why we can’t give up working to prevent another Las Vegas or Sandy Hook.

We don’t need elected officials who pass legislation making it easier for people to kill. We need politicians who have a vision for an America where ordinary citizens can live safe, healthy and fulfilled lives. We need living wages, health care and mental health care for all. We need criminal justice reform. We need a fully funded public education system. We need a government that respects the dignity of every single person.

We can achieve these goals if we keeping picking ourselves back up when we feel loss. Use your voice to overwhelm your representatives – make it hard for them to ignore our voices and our values. We can survive bad policy decisions – and overturn them, if we don’t give up.

2018 is not far away. Democratic candidates are stepping up all over the state.  We will not give up, and we need your support — whatever you can give. If you can walk, we need you to knock on doors. If you can talk, we need you to make phone calls. If you have some extra dollars, we need your donations.

Don’t give up on what we can achieve. Together, we are the hope. Together, we CAN shape our future, even during our darkest hours.

Sally