Well, we lost.
Normally, campaigns will send out a concession email written by a PR person immediately that doesn’t say anything of substance. I needed to take some time to reflect on the campaign and figure out what we did right and what we did wrong. This will be an
overly honest letter for a politician.
My phone number will also be included at the end, so you can text me your thoughts as well. So keep reading.
But, before I get to that, I want to thank everyone who donated and supported us. When you run for office, your biggest worry is, “What if no one believes in me?!” You all believed in me, and as a result, I will be a much stronger candidate for 2020 when I run for this position again.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Why did we lose?
The number one issue is we didn’t have the team we needed. When I started this race, I thought I could hire passionate people who had never worked in politics before, and we could all learn as we went. This, by far, was the
biggest mistake I made.
There’s a tiny pool of political talent in Massachusetts. By the time I realized I needed to hire them, it was too late and they were committed. For 2020, we will be hiring three positions ASAP. Campaign manager, Finance Director and Field Directors. All must have experience, and all must live in MA or be willing to relocate to MA. The second biggest mistake we made was not building a strong field operation. This is 100 percent my fault. As a software engineer, I feel most comfortable in analytics and data analysis. As a result, we excelled at online targeting and messaging, but did not build up enough local ground game. Again, this will change for 2020.
Those are the big two.
But fortunately, they are fixable. I can learn how to run a phone bank, but Stephen Lynch can’t learn to be a Democrat.
What went right?
It took a while, but I think I did figure out a way to migrate my feisty software engineer personality to politics. I’m very proud that I never made a call I’m embarrassed about. I didn’t let this change who I am. I’m still a fighter, but I know which battles are worth fighting.
We also excelled at anything related to online. Compare my Twitter community with Lynch’s. My ads were stronger, and my presence in the press was stronger.
These are successes we will build on for 2020.
A word has to be said about the local press. There’s no good way for a paper to become a cautionary tale in a journalism class, but that’s precisely what happened with the Boston Globe and the way they treated us. That said, I do believe we can reset our working relationship and make it more constructive for 2020.
Despite all of this, I’m excited about the future. Even people who don’t support me
think we had a very strong showing for a first-time candidate. I will run again in 2020, Stronger. Smarter. And with the experience to win. I hope I’ll have your support then as well.
You supported me from the beginning, and I will not forget that. If you have thoughts about what we need to change for 2020,
feel free to text me at 781-459-3131.
There’s no shame in losing a fight, but there is shame in not learning anything from it. I'm choosing to learn so we can win the next fight.
Thanks for believing in me,
Bri
