Coffee, The Team, and Patriotism

My whole team has been surviving on coffee and Alanis lately—the drink, not Alanis Morissette. We truly have been consuming an unhealthy amount of caffeine. In fact, we’re often handing each other another cup before anyone has even asked for a refill.

That’s the moment we’re in.

Absentee ballots are arriving in mailboxes, our TV ads are running, volunteers are knocking on doors every day, and campaign mail is landing in homes across Macomb and Oakland Counties.

Today marks our final End of Quarter fundraising deadline before the primary. It’s been an exciting, pivotal, and exhausting quarter. And as I was driving between events this week — with coffee in hand, obviously!—I found myself thinking about how incredibly lucky I am.

Campaigns tend to focus on one person. The candidate gets her name on the signs, her face on the mail, and her voice in the ads. But the truth is that the campaign’s success isn’t just a candidate—it’s about the team. As a Michigan alum, one of my favorite quotes comes from Bo Schembechler:

“No man is more important than the team. No coach is more important than the team. The team, the team, the team.”

Bo was obviously right about football, and I think the message is true about campaigns and even America. Our campaign has never been about one person. It’s always been about the team we’ve built together.

My campaign manager has been by my side through every high and low, offering wisdom, discernment, and more cups of coffee than either of us should probably admit to. Our field and organizing director has built a program that has knocked more than 10,000 doors while coordinating with Democrats up and down the ballot because he knows this campaign is about strengthening our community at every level of government. Our campaign special assistant somehow manages to keep us laughing even on the longest days, and our finance team has worked tirelessly to make sure our ads are on television, our mail is reaching voters, and our field program has everything it needs to succeed. Every one of them brings different talents, but they share the same belief: this campaign is bigger than any one person.

We also have an incredible team of consultants, advisors, interns, and supporters who have invested countless hours helping us build the strongest campaign possible. Our senior advisor is—believe it or not—a Buckeye, who has thankfully put country over university, and has been critical to our success.

There are supporters across Michigan and across the country who have opened doors for me that I never imagined would be open to a kid from Warren. Their belief in this campaign has been both humbling and surreal.

My husband, David, and our three kiddos have lived every minute of this campaign with me. They’ve shared me with this race, celebrated the wins, weathered the disappointments, and reminded me every single day what we’re fighting for. David has carried so much for me, and our kids have embraced this campaign as if it’s their own. Every hug after a long day, every homemade sign, every “How did it go today, Mom?” reminds me what we are fighting for.

Friends have dropped off meals when life has been especially busy. Family members have spent evenings stuffing literature bags around our family reunion table. People have prayed for our family or sent a simple text saying, “You’ve got this!”

Those acts of kindness mean more than anyone can imagine to me. Because there are hard days. But this campaign has never belonged to one person. It belongs to all of us.

The endorsement we just received from The Detroit News wasn’t about me. The Editorial Board explicitly recognized the coalition we built together, writing that our campaign, “has demonstrated an ability to connect with voters across the district and has assembled a coalition that extends beyond traditional Democratic constituencies.”

Similarly, the more than 13,000 grassroots contributions we’ve received didn’t just pay for television ads or campaign mail. They built a movement powered by ordinary people who believe our district deserves better representation, especially representation from someone who actually comes from here and understands what it’s like to be part of a working family.

As Independence Day approaches, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about patriotism. We often associate it with fireworks, parades, and flags—and I love those traditions.

But over the past year, I’ve watched people give up evenings with their families, spend Saturdays knocking on doors, drop off meals for ours, pray for us, stuff literature bags, and chip in whatever they could because they believe our community, and our country, can be better than it is today.

To me, that’s patriotism.

It’s believing America is worth your time, your energy, and your hope. It’s believing we can build, in the words of our Constitution, “a more perfect Union.” Every person who’s joined Team Hines has practiced that kind of patriotism, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Which brings me back to Bo.

“No man is more important than the team. No coach is more important than the team. The team, the team, the team.”

For all the attention campaigns place on candidates, I’ve learned that democracy works the same way great teams do. It’s never about one person. It’s about ordinary people choosing to work together toward something bigger than themselves.

Tomorrow morning, someone on our team will almost certainly hand me another cup of coffee before I realize I need it.

And every time it happens, it reminds me that this campaign has never been powered by caffeine.

It’s been powered by people.

The team.

The team.

The team.

If you’ve been part of our team—whether you’ve donated, volunteered, hosted an event, prayed for us, encouraged us, or simply believed in this campaign—thank you.

And if you’d like to help us reach our end-of-quarter goal today, I’d be incredibly grateful for your support. Every contribution helps keep this team moving as we head into the final stretch before the primary.

DONATE TODAY!