02/06/2026
To the People of District 3 ~
Long before there were county lines or district boundaries, there was this land. My people have called it Xabatin for nineteen thousand years. I grew up understanding that to serve this place is not a privilege granted by an election, it is a responsibility carried in the blood, answered in the bones. That is why I ran eight years ago. That is why I am asking for your trust again today.
I do not take lightly what it means to hold this office. Every vote cast on your behalf, every decision made at that table, every hard conversation I have walked into; I have carried all of it with the full weight of what it means to be entrusted with something sacred. This community is sacred to me. You are sacred to me.
We Have Weathered This Together ~
These past eight years have not been gentle ones. We have watched fires consume the hillsides we love. We have buried neighbors, closed schools, and sat with a silence that a pandemic brought over all of us. None of it was easy. None of it was fair.
And through all of it, this community did not break. It bent —,sometimes hard; but it did not break. Because the people of District 3 are not built for surrender. They are built for one another. I have watched you show up in ways that humbled me. In that spirit, I showed up too. Not perfectly. Not without struggle. But honestly, always uttermost honesty.
There were decisions I made that not everyone agreed with. I understood that. Leadership is not about being liked in the moment, it is about being able to look your community in the eye years later and say: I did what I believed was right, and I told you the truth about why. I can say that today. I will be able to say it tomorrow.
We are still building. Some parts of this machine need cleaning, some need oiling, some need replacing altogether. But the direction is right, the foundation is solid, and the people doing the work are real. I am not finished.
To Everyone Who Has Stood With Me ~
I am humbled, genuinely and deeply humbled; by the breadth of support this campaign has received. From Congressman Mike Thompson and Senator Mike McGuire, to our Assemblymembers, Ramos, Valencia and Connolly, our fellow Supervisors, Rasmussen, Owen, Sabatier and Pyska, our District Attorney, and our
Superintendent of Schools. From tribal leaders and community chairpersons who understand what it means to protect a people and a place. From neighbors who have known me my whole life and neighbors I have only just met.
Each name on our endorsement list represents a relationship, a story, a shared stake in where this district is headed. You did not have to stand here. You chose to. And I do not take that lightly.
To the people who put up signs, who made calls, who encouraged me on the hard days, thank you. This work has never been mine alone. It has always been ours.
Now I Am Asking You to Vote ~
This election will be decided by the people who show up. That is always how it works, and it is how it should work. I am asking you, respectfully and urgently, to make your voice heard. Bring someone with you. Remind a neighbor. Make the call you have been meaning to make.
Eight years ago, you gave me a chance to serve. What I give back to you, every day, without exception; is the truth. That covenant has not changed. It will not change.
Xabatin has endured for nineteen thousand years because the people who love it have always shown up for it. This is our moment to do the same.
With respect, gratitude, and unwavering commitment
E.J. Crandell
