Please take a minute to read this thread and understand that one of the most important congressional races in the country has a special election in Western NY on June 23rd.

@Nate_McMurray winning this race would symbolize so much of what we are trying to fight for against Trump.

First-a bit of background:

This special election is in NY’s 27th congressional district. The seat has been vacant b/c it’s former rep was convicted of insider trading and sentenced to prison time (which has been delayed due to COVID-19). That former congressman is Chris Collins.

Chris Collins is/was a BIG Trumper. So big, in fact, that he was the very first Republican in Congress to endorse Trump back in 2016. And... the location where he happened to commit insider trading was on the White House lawn. I kid you not.

Collins was at a White House event in June 2017 when he overheard that a specific pharmaceutical had failed clinical trials and he called his son from the WH and asked him to sell the stock his family had in this company, before this information was made available to the public.

Collins’ son, his son’s fiancee, her parents and other family friends ALL sold their stock before the public knew that this clinical trial had failed. That is why Collins is going (eventually) to prison.

Collins was indicted for Insider Trading in August 2018, in the middle of his re-election campaign. (He didn’t plead guilty until October 2019.)

In 2018 Collins’ Dem challenger was @Nate_McMurray, a local town supervisor who had the guts to run in the reddest area of the state.

Nate is from the area and hated what corruption had done to the place he loved so much. But because the area is so red, he was told he had practically no shot at winning and he received very little national funding support or attention.

But National Democratic strategists didn’t understand how fed up locals in NY’s 27th were with corruption. In the last quarter of fundraising for the 2018 race, corrupt Chris Collins received only $85 from locals for his re-election bid. $85.

When Election Day hit Nate was so close in this impossible race that it had to be recounted. He wound up getting 40,000 Republicans to vote for him and lost by just 0.37%. (To a man who had already been indicted, so frustrating!) Had he had just a bit more help he would have won.

So Collins keeps his seat but is stripped of committee rights and soon pleads guilty, robbing his constituents of representation in Congress. A special election is announced and Nate decides to run again.

This is where I will deviate and say that I have met Nate. I had been following this race from afar and when he lost, he didn’t lose a beat and started hosting what he calls “Fight Like Hell bootcamps” where he helps train people how to run for public office. I attended one.

Nate has been working nonstop to improve things in his area since before 2018. He didn’t stop (not even for a little bit) when he lost by 0.37% in 2018 and he didn’t hesitate to run again in this special election. And just like last time, his current opponent is crazy corrupt.

The Republican running to fill this vacant seat is a current NY State Senator. His name is Chris Jacobs. He happens to belong to one of the wealthiest families in America, a family that Forbes magazine called The Face of Corporate Greed During Coronavirus. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexreimer/2020/03/26/bruins-owner-jeremy-jacobs-becomes-face-of-corporate-greed-during-coronavirus-pandemic/#ed7ec1334e69

Jacobs himself is worth $70 million and he is self-funding his campaign. So far he’s spent ~$600,000. (Nate has been able to raise ~$200k.)

There are 62 state senators in NY and only 6 voted against the state’s Coronavirus relief package. Jacobs (worth $70m) was one of them.

To add to the corruption, Nate used to work for Delaware North, the company owned by Jacobs’ family. When Jacobs decided to run for the seat, the company fired Nate.

So Nate is now w/out a job, running against a man whose family fired him + who has $70m to try to buy this seat.

We’ve all been watching what’s happening w/ Senators Richard Burr + Kelly Loeffler and the unfair (and likely illegal) stock trades that they made just before the Coronavirus pandemic started. @Nate_McMurray’s district has already dealt w/ similar illegal behavior from their rep.

NY’s 27th has already seen their rep plead guilty for insider trading. Flipping this seat from Red to Blue would send such a powerful message that Insider Trading will not be tolerated.

We’re all aware of the horrific greed that has been displayed by elites during the pandemic and by politicians + corporations who think that they can buy seats/votes. Helping @Nate_McMurray beat Jacobs would send such a powerful message that we won’t tolerate seat/vote buying.

But NY’s 27th was once such a solid red Republican stronghold, repped by the very first man to endorse Trump. Current contender Jacobs is also a huge Trump supporter. But the district is now solidly purple. Flipping this seat Blue would rattle the hell out of Trump and the GOP.

Please do what you can to help @Nate_McMurray defeat corruption, defeat greed, defeat seat buying and elitist behavior... AND scare the hell out of Trump.