Thank you so much for all your support and hard work this election cycle! I'm so proud to have been re-elected to serve this district for a third term and looking forward to going back to Sacramento to keep fighting for you. 

 

Despite what you've been seeing and hearing at the national level, this has been a very successful election cycle for us locally. We re-elected our two strong Congresswomen, Lois Capps and Julia Brownley; I have a new colleague and ally in Sacramento with Assemblymember-elect Jacqui Irwin; Isla Vista gained strong, local representation on the Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees with Jonathan Abboud and on the Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District with Paola Dela Cruz and Jacob Lebell; and we were able to pass the much-needed water bond to help our state get through this terrible drought. While we may have fell short of our goal with Measure P, this is just the beginning. We ran a great campaign that provided education to voters about the dangerous methods that are being used in our community and we will continue to build on that to protect our county into the future. 

 

But now it's time for something fun. I will be giving a talk about how "Everything I Learned About Fighting Evil, I Learned from Lord of the Rings" at our locally owned Santa Barbara bookstore, Granada Books, tomorrow night at 6:30pm. 

 

Many people may know that Lord of the Rings is my favorite book series but few people know why or how it shaped so much of my political and social conscience at a young age. The battles between good and evil portrayed in the books provide many valuable lessons for activists and I'm excited to have the opportunity to share something so meaningful to me with you. 

 

Hope to see you there! And thank you again for all your support! 

 

Das