Epilogue

According to the Pennsylvania Department of State's election returns Website, the unofficial returns show that we received 46.2 percent of the vote in yesterday's election to choose the new state representative from the 46th District.

THANK YOU to all of the voters who supported my candidacy and to all of my supporters -- family members, friends, neighbors, campaign volunteers and donors. This was an effort of hundreds of people and I'm thankful for the contributions that all of you made.

THANKS AGAIN in a special way to everyone who worked yesterday for me outside the polls, as well as to our poll watchers, drivers and those who made phone calls. I am extremely grateful for all of your efforts. Your work had an impact!

It's hard to put the results into perspective the morning-after. But, what I do know is this: Representative democracy is the best system of government available to us. For democracy to work, we need candidates to run for office. And, as it's a zero-sum game, at least 50 percent of those candiates have to be unsuccessful. Without that, we would not have democracy.

I hope that my State House campaigns have inspired others to become active in local politics and perhaps consider being candidates themselves someday.

Some food for thought from Theodore Roosevelt:

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure ... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."