Dear Friends,

It’s now clear that we do not have the votes necessary to advance to the general election in November. First, before any pride in what we accomplished or disappointment in what we didn’t, I want to express my gratitude. To all those of you who knocked doors, made phone calls, came to a town hall, or trusted me with your vote: Thank you. Your support – and dedication to your fellow Californians – humbles and inspires me, and I’m forever changed by the months we spent together. Every day reminded me of what I knew on the very first: that Californians are special, and they deserve a state they can afford to live, work, play, and imagine a future in.

For the rest of my life, I will be proud of the ways we fought for and with working people, earning endorsements from unions representing nurses, educators, carpenters, home care workers, hotel and restaurant workers, and the votes of almost 2 million Californians who dared to demand more for each other and the state they love. Together, we fought for a California that belongs to the people who keep it running every day, and we insisted that they do not have to settle for a system that protects corporate profits at the expense of working people. I’m proud of how we never compromised our values or lowered our sights for what California can and should be.

And I’m proud of the enemies we made. We forced Chevron, PG&E, Meta, and so many others out of hiding. We forced them to show who and what they have always stood for, and we challenged the greed and cowardice that allow them to raise costs, suppress wages, pollute communities, and treat workers as disposable. In this race, those corporations revealed that they see a government that puts working people first as an existential threat – even when proposed by a billionaire. By spending $55 million – the most ever against a single candidate in a California primary – they showed the lengths they would go to in order to protect a status quo that only serves them and their profits.

And now, the genie is out of the bottle. This campaign proved that business-as-usual depends on politics-as-usual, and there is no going back. We must continue to fight for a system where democracy serves Californians, not corporations – and where you do not have to be a billionaire to run on single-payer, or on breaking up monopolies, or on calling out a corrupt system when you see it. Because people are fed up with a system rigged to benefit billionaires and leave them behind. They see what’s happening, and they know who to blame. It’s why so many people voted for our platform. And it’s not lost on me that it’s also why so many people just couldn’t stomach voting for a billionaire. It's hard to blame them.

I have always been an optimist, and today, I remain an optimist. Nothing this campaign fought for is far off. These dreams we dreamt together are not too big. Californians deserve a life they can afford, and they deserve for it to be in California. My commitment to this fight didn’t start last November, and it doesn’t end today. Because the work of winning a better, fairer California is not the work of a campaign. It is the work of my life.

For now, we must stay focused. Donald Trump is the embodiment of the corporations’ craven, soulless, profit-first model of politics, and it is absolutely essential that his handpicked candidate does not hold the keys to California. It would be a travesty for Steve Hilton to win the governorship, and Californians must unite behind Xavier Becerra to ensure he does not.

To my supporters: Thank you for everything. When I promised to fight for you, that was not a campaign promise. It was just a promise. And I am a man of my word. I’m on your team forever. I wasn’t born a billionaire, I won’t die a billionaire, and I’ll spend the rest of my life working alongside you to dismantle a system that only benefits billionaires.

Today, my message to you is simple: Pay attention. Know what you deserve, and know who is on your side. Understand who the villains are, and say their names out loud. Continue to demand more from your leaders and your government, until they give you the California – and the country – you know you deserve. I will be with you all the way.

With gratitude,

Tom