At this time last year, I began planning a run for the U.S. Congress, because our government is broken, and our Congressional representatives don’t effectively represent a large portion of the residents in this district. I wanted to move our discussions away from the politics of anger and fear and toward the politics of community and hope.  We officially launched our campaign on September 17th, and I’ve spent the last 4-1/2 months balancing a start-up campaign, my job as a lawyer (which I get to step back from on January 1st), and raising our two children (one of whom was snuggled against my arm as I typed this).