A few days ago, I shared about Mike Connolly, a challenger who took on an incumbent in the Democratic primary and won. Today, I’d like to share with you another improbable story. James Thompson is a Democrat who didn’t let the fact that his district was last won by a Republican with a 31 point margin stop him. And that’s just the beginning. Read below for a behind the scenes account from his campaign team.

Thompson’s experience also highlights the #1 issue we hear over and over again from our Democratic customers: you want to be able to access your party’s data and use it with whichever tools you want, like pretty much every other party in the world.

Which is why we are joining the campaign to “unlock the VAN.” If you know what that means, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Right now, the DNC is making important decisions about its future infrastructure, including hiring a new CTO. It’s time to make your voice heard and help people understand why this is so important for Democrats and, frankly, for democracy.

You can sign the petition as an individual, or join the coalition as an organization. Also, please reply to this email if you have a story to tell, and talk about this everywhere you can - mailing lists, happy hours, social media.

We’ll have more to share in the coming days and weeks.