The race is not over folks. That’s where I want to start with this. Every vote has to be counted and they’re doing their jobs – counting them. Don’t accept false words from the mouth of Trump stating that he has won – as he has not won, nor has Biden, at this point in the election. I am baffled at how close this race is though. I expected it would be a dramatic difference – and I wasn’t sure what party that dramatic difference was actually going to lean towards. I had my hopes, but I wasn’t sure. I never expected it to be this close.
I am proud of the candidates that ran amazing campaigns, and I don’t typically play favorites, but in my own district, Jon Mark Hogg, here in Texas, I chatted with on more than one occasion and I have the utmost respect for him and the honest hard-fighting campaign he ran. I also strongly believed MJ Hegar and Donna Imam were victories needed in Texas as well. Over in Tennessee, I closely followed Blair Walsingham’s race – and I would’ve loved to see her take it to the finish line as well. She deserved it.
We had a lot of amazing candidates run in the races this year. We didn’t “ditch Mitch” sadly – and yes, I am disappointed in the amount of money spent on that particular race, and I stood strongly behind Mike Broihier for that race in Kentucky, and I feel had he got the nomination and the name recognition required, we would’ve said goodbye to Mitch McConnell. Strangely, my two saddest moments of this election cycle were Andrew Yang dropping out of the race and Heidi Briones not taking home her primary in Oregon early this year. I became friends with her – and she was a fighter for what she believed in, and one of those things – UBI (Universal Basic Income) – is something I fight for and will continue to fight for until it becomes a reality. Back home in Maine, I would’ve love to see Sara Gideon unseat Susan Collins, but sadly, Maine didn’t vote that way this year. Next time around, hopefully it’ll be different. Susan Collins wasn’t bad for Maine (way earlier on) — until she forgot where she came from and fell in line with her political party instead of the people of Maine.
Our fight continues to ensure UBI becomes a reality, and that everyone has equal rights and opportunities in America. We need the law of the land to be solid and unshakable – love is love, everyone deserves a chance and be on an equal playing field, and poverty shouldn’t exist in our country. I will fight to make sure this is our future – and that it is rock solid.
As far as Humanity Forward/Yang endorsed candidates that have won their race – as of earlier today – we’ve got Tim Ryan (Ohio), John Hickenlooper (Colorado), Grace Meng (New York), Veronica Escobar (Texas), Jeremy Cooney (New York) and Tony Vargas (Nebraska) – (and a handful of others I believe have been declared winners) – congratulations to you guys – I know you will move “humanity forward” as pledged and fight for the people.
This race is not over – and I hope we see some more interesting and necessary victories as the remainder of the ballots are counted. Stay strong, stay calm, stay cool and collected until this is over, guys, and then we decide what our next steps forward will be once all ballots are counted and the election is 100% called.
Now, with my campaign, which wasn’t a run for office, but a movement, which started with the #UniteNotFight movement and then our #VoteLikeYourLifeDependsOnIt movement, I am proud of everyone who used our hashtags, shared our images, watched our videos – we did pretty well in that department. I want to thank the people who bought shirts and believed enough in what I had to say to get involved and spread my message… My message – being spread across social media, being worn on shirts…that’s amazing to me. It brings a tear to my eye, it truly does. Thank you all — for all of it. Being in a terrible medical situation for the past year now, it’s been scary for me. It’s the reason I couldn’t be campaigning more actively and pushing the message even further – but you guys did such an amazing job in the areas that I couldn’t, and I appreciate it, wholeheartedly. This has been really special to me. From the people that jumped on our movements, to the amazing #YangGang, and Andrew Yang himself, the man that gave me hope and inspired me to be politically motivated and involved (which at the time I never thought it would become what it ended up being…) – thank you, Mr. Yang, for all you’ve done to move America – and humanity – forward.
I will check in again and make a statement after the election is 100% counted and closed. But for now, everyone, stay safe, mask up, social distance, do all the things we need to do to help curb the spread of COVID-19, and just remain calm, and let’s see how the democratic process plays out. Honestly, thank you all, so much, from the bottom of my heart. Your support means the world to me and I’m forever grateful for what we have accomplished so far — and it’s only the beginning. As always, I wish you all peace, love and safety.
Cory Legendre