With My Deepest Gratitude, Thank You!

Dear Friends:

Thank you for all of your support over the last few weeks as I pursued the office of City Council in Oakland. It has been an amazing experience full of lessons and reflections for the future. Unfortunately, we did not receive enough votes be elected or to enter a runoff. The incumbent, Nancy Nadel, received 52% of the vote in an historically low turnout election. I called Councilmember Nadel to congratulate her and wish her good luck going forward.

On a more upbeat note, Jumoke Hinton-Hodge, my partner, did get elected to succeed me on the Oakland Unified School Board! She is grateful and excited about her new role and is making plans to work on education issues as an elected official.

I cannot express adequately my appreciation and thanks to all of you made a contribution of your time, energy and money to support Hodge for Oakland. I especially want to thank my family - Jumoke, Chinaka Hodge, Chukwudi Hodge, Kumi Hodge - for supporting this effort and putting up with me for these last few months as I was distracted from family time to pursue public service.

A special thanks to Michelle Matos who served as the campaign manager and worked tirelessly with good humor to make it happen. Thanks to volunteers like Damian Diaz, Surlene Grant, Nick James, Rolando Brown, Gay Plair Cobb, Imani Lott, Gary Borden, and many others for the roles that you played to bring our message of listening, lifting and leading to our community.

I intend to get some rest, stay involved and offer my skills in a variety of ways to our city and our community. There are so many opportunities to change the nature of how we grow our city.

Thanks again and stay strong, positive and beautiful!

With My Deepest Gratitude,

Greg Hodge