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Dear Friends,
First, thanks to everyone for your time, money, resources, ideas, and words of encouragement. None of this could have happened without everything you did. It's been a privilege working with all of you, and I hope you'll join me for more - please keep reading.
Most of all, thank you all for your VOTE. We did something on Tuesday that nobody thought possible.
In the certified results, I placed TENTH, 137 votes behind Denise Simmons for the last Council seat and one vote ahead of John Pitkin, a strong challenger. Just counting #1 votes, I placed EIGHTH, ahead of two incumbents. Complete results at Robert Winters' Cambridge Civic Journal.
We achieved all this with an order of magnitude less money than the winning candidates, a staff with minimal political experience, and a candidate with no existing voter base. Most impressively, the bulk of my support came from young voters who had long been abandoned by most candidates. The turnout of more than 20,000 voters blew away every expectation. Every story I've seen about the election leads with us.
A few weeks ago, you demonstrated that our generation will now play an important role in Cambridge politics. You proved that the trend of declining voter turnout is reversible. You threw out a big piece of the old political equation in Cambridge, and we all get to decide what to replace it with.
So what comes next?
I am planning two related activities. The first is to begin implementing some of my platform with the nine elected councilors and other city officials. Particularly urgent in my mind is an increasingly unsafe Cambridge Common and the need for late night restaurant options. I will also work with my new friends on the School Committee to start bridging MIT, Harvard, and Lesley students to the public schools, as an important demonstration of our good will.
My second focus is to build a lasting organization of young people in Cambridge. We have the opportunity to dramatically change the political landscape in Cambridge, but there is much to decide and I'll need your help to make it work.
If you have thoughts on how to implement any of my platform issues, if you have concerns of your own that you'd like me to bring to the Council, or if you want to be a part of where we take this new movement, please drop me a line with your contact information. I'll be in touch.
Thanks again, and all the best.
Matt DeBergalis
