A Voice for All
Dr. Sami Al-Abdrabbuh is a local elected official and a national leader on public education who ran for Congress, Oregon’s 4th Congressional District in 2022 primary
Friends,
It has been an honor to join many Oregonians in daring greatly for a better state and country that is fair for everyone. I want to take a moment to thank Congressman Peter DeFazio for serving the district for the past three and half decades and congratulate Val Hoyle on securing the Democratic nomination. I have spoke with her shortly after the results were out to congratulate her and I look forward to supporting her toward a win in November.
I am writing to you to express my gratitude to you. Special thanks to the volunteers who staffed this campaign spending what is thousands of volunteer hours on voter and donor phone calls, scheduling and attending meetings, traveling, outreach, door knocking, and helping me be at my best to reach and connect with voters effectively over social media, in person, and in forums. Together, we made a personal outreach to 31,067 people in seven counties just in the past three months. I know I have gained friendships for lifetime and the momentum to move forward with more perseverance. I am grateful to the 500+ donors who fueled this 100% grassroots funded campaign. Your contributions and efforts undoubtedly led to more engaged and informed Democrat voters across Oregon.
This campaign came short of prevailing in this campaign to secure the nomination for the US House of Representatives. Nonetheless, we have succeeded in bringing attention to the priorities of Oregon’s working families. I am thankful for the thousands of Oregonians who have dared with me to strive to do the best deed this republic has known: we dared greatly and with enthusiasm and determination to spread our message of hope and a better version of representation. I want to express my gratitude to the volunteers and supporters who carried this campaign’s message bringing attention to the important issues for the American people. We were able to highlight the dire need for equitable access to education, update our infrastructure, pass Medicare for All, and address income inequality and climate change.
I look forward to continuing my public service in the months ahead by leading Oregon’s largest caucus of elected officials of Color. I will continue as the Oregon School Board Members of Color Caucus president to support Oregon school children, educators, and working families with the infrastructure and education they deserve. Again, I congratulate our Democratic nominee and will bring forward what I learned from my conversations with tens of thousands of Oregonians throughout this campaign.
The words of former President Theodore Roosevelt in his speech “The man in the arena” are worthy of reflection in light of tonight’s event. Learning about his false beliefs about racial superiority, I suspect nowhere in his imagination that the sentiment of his words in that speech would ever apply to me, a viable Congressional candidate of Color from Oregon, or to women or people of Color, or the many people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives across this state and country.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Voters have spoken, and I want to thank each of them and express my gratitude to those who dared greatly and believed in me to carry the worthy cause of representing their voice on the issues that matter to them most. While I have not prevailed in this race, I will continue to advocate to stand up for our democracy and human rights, and voting rights for all.
Gratefully yours,
Sami Al-Abdrabbuh
