(Editor’s Note: this is a letter Seventh District Congressman Carolyn Bourdeaux sent after her loss to Rep. Lucy McBath in the recent primary.—eeb)
Dear friends,
Thank you.
Tuesday’s primary did not go the way we had hoped, so my journey in politics is coming to an end for now, but please know that I deeply appreciate your support both during this race and over the many years as we worked to flip Georgia’s 7th district. The friendships and community we have built has been one of the great joys of this experience.
Bourdeaux
We have accomplished a lot together – starting in 2018 with a district that no one thought a Democrat could win. In that race, I took on a four-term Republican incumbent who had never gotten less than 60 percent of the vote, and with your help, we closed the gap to make this district the closest race in the country. This effort also helped flip 14 state House and Senate districts. Then in 2020, we completed the work of transforming this district, and I was the only Democrat in the country to flip a competitive Republican seat. The work we did ensured the Democrats had a majority in the US House and was critical to delivering Georgia for Joe Biden as well as flipping the two Senate seats in the January 2021 runoffs. This was an extraordinary accomplishment. Thank you for lending your shoulder to this effort.
The 2022 primary was rough. However, the work and community building that had gone into flipping the 7th through 2018 and then 2020, and then the legislation and projects that I have been working on with so many local leaders and community organizations in this district was simply not something that I could willingly abandon. I am deeply appreciative of your help and the wonderful community that stuck with me through thick and thin.
I know we all recognize how compelling my opponent Lucy McBath’s story is. She is a mother who lost her only son to racially-motivated gun violence and has been a fierce advocate for gun control in Congress even as this nation has been brought to its knees in grief over and over again by one horrifying instance of gun violence after the next – most recently with the racially motivated shootings in Buffalo and terrible loss of life at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
We all admire Lucy’s strength and dedication, and, now more than ever, wish her godspeed in the pursuit of her cause.
So with this, I bring this chapter to a close. I will work to serve this community faithfully for the remainder of my term and then look forward to finding other ways to continue the democratic project of strengthening and healing this country and leaving a better world for our children and grandchildren. Thank you again for your friendship and support during this journey.
In hope and faith,
— Carolyn Bourdeaux, Suwanee
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