October 26, 2009

Friends and fellow supporters,

After giving long and thoughtful consideration to my obligations to my work and students at Thomas Jefferson High School, and to my continuing effort to complete my graduate degree work (begun before I thought of entering this race), and to the energy and effort required to compete in this campaign, I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the energy or proper motivation to succeed in all of these efforts simultaneously. I have decided therefore to discontinue my efforts in running for the Texas Senate for District 25.

I am honored by the all the words and actions of encouragement and support I received from many of my friends and former supporters throughout SD 25, and I apologize for any whom I may be letting down by not continuing with the race, but the good people of this district deserve the full energy and effort of a candidate to fight to win this race or else no candidate should run expecting others to do the heavy lifting for them.

To those of you who have so graciously contributed to my campaign for Senate, I will be pleased to return your campaign contributions to you as soon as possible or if you would consider this as an option, I will hold the contributions to see if another good Democratic Candidate steps forward top run in this race. If so, I will contribute the campaign contributions I hold to that candidate’s campaign. I have heard of a potential candidate out of Travis County who is considering this race. I think this candidate would be an excellent choice for all of us in SD 25 if the person steps forward to run. If no other Democrat gets into the race, I will contribute my remaining campaign funds to the State Democratic Party to help in the effort to take back the Legislature. Please let me know if you would wish to have your contribution returned to you by email or by calling me at 210-499-5776.

Again, I am appreciative of all of your encouragement and support over the years and look forward to working with you to continue the effort to make all of our lives better as active Democrats as election time approaches.

Democratically Yours,
John Courage