Anyone who knows me knows that I talk a lot. 

I’ve been told that my comments are too long… and that didn’t change with this response. That’s just a fair warning for you. I also know it’s also been a bit of a delay – Please know that I wanted to make sure that this response didn’t come off like a bitter rival who’d just lost a fight. I’m not angry or upset at Brad. Still, I knew I needed to take some time to really reflect on things – and to consider how far I wanted to dive into this response. I haven’t exactly felt welcomed or valued by the Smith camp, and I don’t think I want to cozy up with the team, but this needs to be said because the democratic party needs to get their head out of their sandy parts and start listening. 

I’m primarily speaking to Brad’s team – because someone posted that they wanted feedback from our campaign team.  Not that we owe you a damn thing after the way you treated us, or Amanda… but if you’re genuinely interested in learning – it’s all sitting in this post for your digestion. It’s not going to be easy to stomach – I’m expressing every part of the “issues” I have with your candidate, your party, and your approach – but you asked for it, so please keep that in mind as you read. 

About the primary 

What shocked me was how close it was despite everything you all campaigned on.  The spend, the fundraising, the endorsements, the “well organized team,” and the fact that the dems basically chose their candidate ahead of time (which they weren’t supposed to be doing.) From the very early days of my involvement – I watched the dems tell me that they were going where the money was – despite wanting to appear like they were impartial, and principled – democrats wanted the “Traditionally electable” candidate. But they couldn’t see beyond their own life experiences for long enough to see what was best for the party or the district.  They weren’t concerned with what people wanted –  they viewed money, connections, and “safe” as “electable”.  They did the same thing for the gubernatorial election, and people are PISSED about it. 

Here’s why this matters: “safe” and “electable” (aka palatable to the rural red district) is NOT what we need when we’re on the verge of losing our democracy to rich, connected, and violent people. “Safe” is not the stance we need to take against fascism, against dictators, against corporations who have negotiated their way into our data and privacy.  “Safe” is not what the country needs when the current leaders are actively making it unsafe for at least half the population to exist. And “Safe” is not what rural voters want when they feel manipulated and mistrusting of the government.

“Safe” Almost lost you the primary.

Amanda came so close to winning despite all of the assumptions and beliefs and despite spending a third of what Brad did because Amanda isn’t a “politician.” She came off to people as someone who is standing up and fighting for what she believes in and it’s the FIGHT that people want to see.  Even if Fighting got her death threats.. Even if fighting meant being called a communist… even if it was uncomfortable for people who wouldn’t stomach her message anyway.  She was ready to fight.

Prepare yourself, The next parts are going to be hard to hear.

I won’t mince words here – I’m not here to make you or your campaign team feel good.  I debated on whether I wanted to re-iterate this to you because of how many times I’d already shared the message… So this is the last thing I’ll say but you should brace yourself because I’m not sugar coating any of this.  I’ve already been “nice” and now that the election is done, I don’t need to be “nice.” No one in your group understood that I (and much of Amanda’s team)  wasn’t on the “democratic” team – we were on the Amanda Bell team.  

And that’s the biggest hurdle you face.  

Even though Amanda isn’t in the race, Brad will have a hell of a time taking this district because his image is everything that everyone hates right now. There’s a general feeling of mistrust around government in general, and if I’m being honest, Brad doesn’t do much to make us feel better. I still don’t see Brad as our best chance of beating Grothman – in fact I think if anything, the primary proved how incredibly difficult it will be for Brad to connect with people across the district.  

He’s too much of a smooth talker, he’s too corporate, he’s too establishment, and those who are pissed at MAGA or at the democratic party won’t vote for him. Independents, party drop outs, and people who don’t usually vote will make this election and Brad is not the kind of candidate that enough people can feel good about, to make the difference. 

There is not much that’s inspiring about Brad beyond the first speech you hear from him. 

“It’s a waste of time, they’re just going to do what they want anyway.” Or “Politicians are always going to tell me what I want to hear” will be the excuses people give you for not mobilizing for Brad. There is very little passion or purpose behind his campaign… and frankly, there is no amount of shit talking against Grothman that you’ll be able to do to change the way that people feel about the democratic party, or the D behind Brad’s polished look. 

The vast majority of people I spoke with over the last 3 months don’t like Grothman, but many of them don’t like democrats either.  Of course there will be people who vote for “the lesser of two evils” but, honestly that’s the catch. In this campaign – in 2026 – People are tired of voting for the lesser of two evils and Brad has the image of the other side of the coin. Brad doesn’t have the story that Amanda does which can endear people who hear a purpose behind her run that isn’t to benefit her. Amanda was the underdog and was taking on big government because she had a cause outside of herself.  She was seemingly anti-establishment without being directly anti-establishment. 

Brad isn’t anti-establishment – he IS the establishment. 

The unfortunate thing is, this isn’t a PR issue – This isn’t something that Brad can just clean up some verbiage on his website, or tweak his talking points and fix.  It’s simply his background, his experience, his “polish” and his corporate speak. (And yes there’s such a thing.) 

Here’s the feel of what Brad puts out there to people who aren’t on his campaign team. Brad is a “politician” & a “businessman” he seems nice on the outside, but there’s something about him… something you can’t put your finger on… that you don’t really “like.”  Kind of like that stereotypical used car salesman… He seems nice enough and can get you to say yes, but you’ve got to wonder if you just drove a lemon off the lot.

Nice to your face doesn’t mean you carry it home

There is no doubt that Brad can connect with people when they’re in the room – but people in these really important camps (“I”s, party droppers, and non-voters) don’t feel connected with him after he’s left the room… I don’t know why, but Brad feels hollow – like empty promises from your prom date.  Couple that with the way the people surrounding him like to treat independent voters and people who don’t drink whatever koolaid you all are selling… It’s a bad image. 

The challenge with Brad is that this is not “spinable” – The more you try to spin these issues the worse it will get because Brad can’t help who he is or his background. And in any other situation, hell in any other race – there’s nothing wrong with it either. But in THIS race… in THESE political conditions…  It’s not a benefit.

Frankly, the Brad Smith team hasn’t been helping his “look.”

Several of your team members should be ashamed of themselves – not for the primary performance but for the way you treated people.  The democrats are supposed to be the party that works for the people – all the people – even the ones that are a little gone in the head, or don’t think, look, or act like you.  You’re supposed to be the party that supports our melting pot of ideals… but that’s not what it felt like or looked like. 

You’ve created isolation and mistrust in every independent in the GGMG page – and anyone who was on the fence that spoke out about why they didn’t like Brad or supported Amanda’s capabilities you dragged them through the dirt or made sure you called out Brad in the comments.  It didn’t help your case – you made Brad’s team look like the rich preppy kids at school that beat people up just because it was fun and constantly talked about the hot kids on campus and what they were wearing. The amount of times that I heard “The good ole boys club” when referring to Brad’s campaign – well… it sets an image.  

Putting the team behaviors aside – you still have a lot of work to do. 

If you have any hope of winning this election – There is a list of questions Brad needs to answer not just with talking points but with anything else you can show for it that will actually help garner trust. 

I tried to ensure that this list removes the man as a person, and only looks at the candidate – I don’t know Brad well enough to trust him as a person, but as a candidate… I trust him about as much as I trust any current sitting congress person. 

The below list is lengthy, and again – I’m not mincing words.  

I trust that you need people to ask these questions because if you can’t come up with satisfactory answers for these before the election – you don’t stand a chance anyway. 

1. Other than running a robotics team and your service in the US military – what have you actually done for the people of the 6th district?  There are a lot of military service members out there – many in my own family – but your service stopped years ago – Boots on the ground hard work,policy, change, boards you’ve been on, non-profit organizations you’ve volunteered in – what have you done since then? 
2. When have you been involved in policy changes or service to actually represent our citizens and their grievances, how did you come to those opportunities, and would you still do the same thing again? 
3. When the vote comes down to it – what is your incentive to vote against your clients and your own business?  This needs to be PERSONAL
4. Why do you think you’re qualified to run our federal government?  The government was never supposed to operate as a business. Businesses make profits, the government is supposed to operate like a non-profit.  It’s supposed to use our tax dollars as funds to do services for us. Do you have non-profit or public service leadership experience? What makes you think that you’ll be able to run the government?  
5. What are you personally doing to create change at this moment?  Regardless of whether you win, or your own campaign… not other people’s work that you’re agreeing to support – but what the hell do you bring to this fight that’s anything different than what’s already in the Washington lobbyist or congressional pool? 
6. Why should we trust you? (And “because I say you should” isn’t an answer.) The republican base, the independent base, and the disenfranchised don’t trust democrats and have now been screwed over by a businessman – why would you be any different? 
7. What are you going to do to win this?  Because it sure as hell looks like you need a different approach, $105k of donations spent and a .6% margin with so much support and organization behind you?  How will you show us that you can be fiscally responsible and listen to your constituents before November? 
8. If your slogan is “forward together”, then what does forward look like when you’re working with the people who have worked to send us back to before the civil rights act?  Who are you okay with leaving behind, and what will you compromise to make a deal that makes you look good?
9. What policies have you written yourself and what makes you think those policies are what the people of this district are asking for? 
10. Why is money so important to you and your team and if that isn’t the major campaign talking point moving forward, then what will be? 
11. What discussions did you have with the people and organizations who endorsed you that gained their endorsements? 
12. When our democracy is on the line, are you going to cave to the DNC who will inevitably pressure you into the status quo because it serves them or are you going to stand up and fight for the people of the 6th CD?  
13. Why didn’t you step aside?  If you support women… and you believe that women are capable – why didn’t you step aside to support a more qualified candidate?  What made you believe that you were better than Amanda.  Especially in retrospect, it looks like you were a lot of hot air. 
14. How are you demonstrating the things you claim on your campaign policy page?  How are you actually supporting the platform the democrats say they want to support and why wont you do more to protect the people and the citizens of our district? 
15. Where do you think the democratic party is blowing it with voters? If you don’t know what are you willing to do to find out and fix it?
16. Why should anyone who has been abandoned by white middle aged business men who make deals with corporations trust you – when you seem like a white middle aged business man who makes deals with corporations? 
17. Why should anyone who has spent the last 20 years waiting for democrats to take action believe that you will? 
18. If you and your team believe you’re the best choice for the district as a whole, why are you so damn worried about independent candidates when you have the democratic party behind you?
19. What’s your plan to motivate voters to actually get out to the polls and vote for you? 
20. Why haven’t you and your team been more transparent and to stand with more integrity?
    1. Like instead of touting that you’re the only candidate to sign the take BAC congress initiative – why haven’t you also said that they only allow one candidate per district? You weren’t the only candidate to sign it – you were the first candidate to sign it and therefore the only candidate who COULD sign it.  
    2. Instead of saying you grew up on a farm, why don’t you tell people that your grandparents owned a farm that you visited… which is different from someone waking up every day on a farm.
    3. Why didn’t you say something when your team was actively lying or spinning stories about Amanda? Why did you continue to allow that to happen? And Will you continue to lie and spin stories against your opponents to win? 
21.  What did you learn from the primary race against Amanda and what will you change moving forward? 

Some of these questions are optics based 

When you have a trust issue, you have an optics issue. Admittedly I know many of the people reading this will think I’m going too hard.. But Brad won the election and now it’s time to play hardball – he needs to prepare himself for these types of questions because these are his biggest weak points and every single point that people that oppose him will call out.

Brad doesn’t seem trustworthy – I heard it from others, it’s how I felt and it’s what I witnessed and if you’re going to win this, something needs to change… 

If you can’t sit with the criticisms of Brad the candidate, then maybe reviewing some information about Amanda’s campaign will help.

As a reminder, here’s why I personally voted for Amanda

These are also just a few of the reasons why the people around her were so motivated to get out, vote, and talk to others about getting to the polls – this is not saying that Brad is NOT like this – but these are the things people saw in Amanda that made them say – SHE’S IT. 

1. Amanda is truly representative of our entire district and she actively sought out people who would have differences of opinions. She encourages people to be vocal about things so she can listen and learn. Her team was full of people who weren’t afraid to call her out when she messed up and she made immediate changes. 
2. Amanda was already doing the work. Not the politics – but the work. Showing up for her people in town halls – fielding calls from people in crisis – connecting with representatives from other districts to get people support when they were considering suicide – driving 6 hours out of her campaign territory (one way) to get more information to help people in her district.
3. Amanda is experienced in government and public service having given her career and her husband to this country for over 20 years. Not a couple of years, but entire lifetimes.
4. Amanda wouldn’t compromise on ethics – every human matters… she could broach a difficult conversation and highly propagandized topic like trans rights, genocide, and women’s healthcare, stand her ground, and still not offend the person she talked to. She is respectful but truly advocates for the people who are cast out. 
5. Amanda didn’t campaign on political talking points but genuine human conversation with compassion.
6. Amanda isn’t perfect – she messed up sometimes – and she wasn’t afraid to admit it.
7. Amanda showed up to people’s doors in the middle of nowhere.  People that had never had representation visit them.
8. Amanda didn’t shy away from the topics that should not be but were made to be controversial and she wasn’t afraid of holding people accountable.  
9. Amanda visibly has something to fight for…. Her rights, her daughter’s rights, her career, her principles. 
10. She has a story to tell – one that actively changes hearts and minds when she speaks to people.  It created conversation with people who would normally shut her down – and instead created bridges to cross divides and change perspectives.
11. Lastly, I’ve been a life long independent – I have never rallied behind a candidate like I did Amanda – I’m hard to impress and I don’t believe 95% of the bullshit that politicians sell – but honestly, she was easy – she cared and you could tell it was beyond the campaign.  

The democratic party needs a reality check, 

(like in the movies when they have to slap someone across the face to get them to pay attention)

With all of those things said, Amanda was the outcast of the Democratic Party and of the Smith team – which told me all I needed to know about the party and the team. I know that some people will say that she wasn’t an outcast of the party but genuinely – I only spent 3 months in the campaign and I could see how the “party” was actively working for Brad. After two days I had people who weren’t involved with the campaign telling me that they thought the Democratic party did Amanda dirty. 

What’s more irritating is the reasons behind it. 

3 days into my experience on her campaign, and I was told that people in the democratic party believed that she couldn’t win because she’s a woman.  When I called out the hypocrisy and misogyny, it switched from “she’s a woman” to “he’s more electable.” 

If you’re still reading this and you’re here from Brad’s team – you’re familiar with the claim: she hadn’t done enough fundraising and she wasn’t organized enough. Those comments by sitting party members and county chairs oozed “spoon fed narrative” and physically turned my stomach. It’s what turned so many people off to Brad in the primary and what turned many people away from certain gubernatorial candidates too. If the democratic party takes anything away from this I hope it’s that in the end, the voters will decide who’s electable – not the campaigns.  

A final post-primary note for the Brad Smith team

At the base of my principles I didn’t stomach the conversations between your campaign and myself very well.  Our Democracy is supposed to be about the people – not about the dollars – not about the campaigns – or about the volunteers.  I was as close as anyone to Amanda’s campaign in the final months, so I knew what I was seeing. 

Here’s how it looked from my side: a small and weak campaign dressed up to look good and attempting to overcompensate by gas lighting everyone they could into believing that only a white man with endorsements, and connections to money could win this race.  And it worked.  Just barely, but it worked. This wasn’t the truth but a story people wrapped up in “I’m doing what’s best” to sell to the general public, and damn did they sell it.  

But it won’t work again – That same conversation doesn’t work outside of the primary and without it, frankly, your campaign is wobbly at best. Ya’ll love Brad – a lot – but I don’t see it – and the question you’ll have to answer this go around isn’t “How are you and Amanda’s campaigns different” it will be “Why should we believe you’re any different than who’s in there now?” 

If you have any questions or support, one person from our team has offered to help  Donna Richards and said she will sit down with you. Please reach out to me if you want her contact information and don’t already have it. The rest of the team isn’t ready to jump on board yet and needs more time. If they do decide to jump on board in the future at all, your team better treat them well.  They deserve that at the minimum.

For everyone else

I’m going to be circling back to the PoP podcast very soon. If you’re another candidate or campaign listening to this, give the podcast a follow. If you’d like to participate, then visit the home page and click the “Be a guest” link.

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