Prescott Paulin for IL State Rep

The results are in. I lost.

Losing isn't easy, especially when your movements and views are under a microscope, but it's worth talking about if my lessons learned can help an aspiring leader or technologist.

First things first -- Congratulations to my opponent, Lisa Smith. You fought a tough race with honor and class. You won, fair and square.

You have my full support moving forward to beat our common adversary, Sue Scherer, whose policies incentivize mooching more than producing, and whose policies push small businesses over the border - or out of business entirely.

Dr. Smith, you have done a more effective job in this election, convincing our neighbors of your approach to run on Republican social values and lower taxes, as we've seen resonate in many major cities around the country with our recent Supreme Court decisions.

When the final totals come in, I will remain proud that two thousand more people have heard about (and believed in me to deliver) the benefits of supporting cryptocurrency, internet-owned DAO corporations, and fiscal responsibility for our state. (Timing is also key: It’s been difficult to spark this belief when Bitcoin has lost half its value since I started this campaign! 😳)

Thank you to my supporters, to Christopher Weisenborn for your help in managing this campaign, to Tim Viewig + Kevin Breheny, to my family, my girlfriend, and especially to every neighbor who was willing to sign their name or vote for my unorthodox approach to change.

The hard lessons I learned tie back to basic user experience design principles: listen more, pivot faster, and always seek to build a better solution for your customer by using the language that matters to them.

I am also proud of gaining two thousand votes without putting out a single yard sign and deploying only a few hundred dollars, which was part of this grand experiment -- to reveal what percent of the vote I would earn by running a 100% digital election. It's clear to me that traditional messaging still matters to win these days, which I believe is partly based on the principle of repetition to build trust with your audience. Voters need to see your name again and again to decide that you are someone worth voting for. Obviously your values and the language you use matter in conjunction with trust. The same goes for social proof: If you see a lot of signs in your neighbors' yards, you might think that candidate is more popular and worthy of your vote.

Dr. Smith, you did a great job hammering home the ground campaign. As Dan Caulkins said, at the end of the day, this is a popularity contest. I have learned that it is *HARD* to take nuanced language about technology and make it popular for the average voter.

Our neighbors cannot prioritize technology and fiscal responsibility over their personal financial situations when they are struggling to pay for physical needs — housing, food, gas. The residents of our district have decided that they are not prioritizing cryptocurrency or internet-owned corporations right now. Our market and economy have clearly shifted voters' immediate needs since I started running for office.

This election was worth a shot, if nothing else, because I got to know our neighbors so much better. Even when many disagreed with my policy perspectives, I listened to their concerns and dove deeper into their reasons to understand WHY. I have even greater respect for all of our Illinoisans after participating in this process, and that knowledge will be deployed to help our other candidates moving forward.

One thing that wasn't all digital: I knocked on doors. A LOT of doors. And it still hurts my heart to know how many single old ladies are at home all by themselves without any neighbors checking in on them. We should all get off of our phones from time to time and check in on our neighbors. Relationships, built in person, are the glue holding our community together. As trust is established, sharing a homemade meal can be a heavenly gift to an older person who struggles to prepare their own food.

To all of our neighbors, the majority of you have spoken by voting for Dr. Smith, and I will work with her to support the outcome you're seeking while remaining true to my beliefs that reaching across the aisle is possible if we continue to listen and be respectful to one another. The 96th is a blue district, and the other side will not flip to bridge the middle if we do not make an effort to understand and accommodate them.

America is hurting. Illinois is hurting. But we have not lost our nation or state, and as in the past, there is more work to be done.

I will continue to commit myself to serving our fellow small business owners and neighbors as we design better policies that will increase revenue and profitability within our state while keeping our neighbors safe, fed, and employed. I plan to help Dr. Lisa Smith, Darren Bailey and Stephanie Trussell with their campaigns in the general election, and work with them to improve Illinois.

Today I also announce my new role as an emerging tech scout and Scalable® business advisor, under Ryan Deiss' mentorship, after he founded DigitalMarketer(dot)com as well as the largest marketing conference in North America (Traffic & Conversion Summit). I will resume helping seven figure businesses scale to eight figures by installing new operating systems, improving their digital marketing, and injecting new technology. I have three new clients as of this morning, and I am excited to continue helping our businesses grow, especially within the defense industry, as we serve our Warfighters to combat rising aggression from the CCP and Russia.

God Bless you all. God Bless America and our great state of Illinois.

Congratulations again to Dr. Smith and her wonderful family. Keep up the good fight!

Congratulations to Darren Bailey and Stephanie Trussell!!

Rooting for the next Governor of Illinois, Darren Bailey for Governor, and our next LtGov., Stephanie Trussell!! Looking forward to seeing what happens as the results come in. Good luck to all of our Republican candidates running! 🇺🇸

Want better gas prices at the pump? Elect better representation.

Voting is today. The choice is yours alone! Go vote! Our Republican party is ready to fix the broken policies that put us here in the first place, and all of our neighbors are welcome to benefit from the outcome.

Text me anytime: 217-NO-TO-SUE

Whatever the outcome is today, I just want to thank my opponent and her family for being such classy neighbors throughout this peaceful Democratic process.

It has been an honor to share a stage with her, to debate her without untoward attacks, and to overall appreciate that we have both been professional and respectful of one another and our families.

She is worthy opponent to have encountered, and I look forward to working with her in our common goal starting tomorrow, however our neighbors decide we should proceed.

As my mother reminded me recently:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt

Thank you, Central Illinois, for the opportunity to be in this arena, to be in lock step as our Republican Party works together to reclaim the 96th District from our mutual adversary - who has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mike Madigan related committees. The blinders are off now that he's been indicted by the FBI.

We start confronting the real problem tomorrow by shifting our focus to help Sue Scherer retire for the second time tomorrow. Which still means, yes, Sue will get to keep your taxpayer dollars flowing into her household until the day she retires permanently.

Please go vote today! Vote for progress and pull a Republican ticket if you're sick of seeing your paycheck dwindle while gas and grocery prices rise! Let's help more producers and less moochers by fixing our broken system in Springfield. 🙏

And please say a prayer for our neighbors, including my grade school teacher, Mrs. Corey, who is experiencing some health issues. Lord knows her benefits and pension could be better. Let's fight for returning honor and decency to our community. ❤️ I'm with you 100% Central Illinois!!

Huge news! HALF of Illinois' Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) claims paid through IDES were STOLEN. Over $1.8 billion of taxpayer dollars were overpaid due to solvable ID theft issues and other fraud, according to a new audit released June 16th.

I am currently the ONLY candidate in the 96th District with the large scale policy and financial experience (both in government and business) necessary to dig in and help resolve this systemic issue. I also have the relevant contacts and skill set needed to implement technology that will combat identity theft, which other states have already legislated and implemented.

Voting is tomorrow. June 28th.

Please get the word out and choose your future wisely. Social issues will not fix our budget, which is spiraling rapidly out of control and forcing our businesses out of state. We must have fiscal responsibility for Illinois to succeed in the future, and we must incentivize more producers than moochers.

Source: https://www.aei.org/poverty-studies/audit-finds-half-of-pandemic-unemployment-assistance-benefits-in-illinois-were-stolen/

Guns save lives in Illinois. Police could be up to an hour away, and you need the ability to defend yourself and your family. I will fight for your second amendment rights - and to eliminate the FOID card.

Guns Do Save Lives: Here's Nine Examples From Last Month Alone Armed citizens stopped at least one mass shooting.

I am your flag.
I am not a pennant, but a purpose;
not a standard, but a symbol;
not a banner but a belief.

I was conceived in justice,
fostered by the love of liberty,
and nourished by the desire for freedom.
I am not a flag, but your Flag.

My fate is in your hands.
I can rise equal to your highest hopes.
I am indicative of your ideals
and symbolic of your sacrifices in the preservation of Liberty,
Freedom and Justice.

I am not a substance, but a shadow:
The heroic spirit
of all the great Americans...
of Washington and Wayne,
of Jefferson and Jones,
of Calhoun and Carver.

I flew as proudly at Charleston as at Concord,
at San Antonio as at San Juan Hill,
at Iwo Jima as at Independence Hall.

I am a composite of a Nation's ideals
and a denotation of its desires.
I am Old Glory.....
The Star spangled Banner....
the Red, White and Blue.

I am what you believe me to be,
and am nothing more.
Love and respect me,
then Freedom, Liberty, and Justice live.

Neglect me and we perish together.
I am YOUR FLAG.
My fate is in your hands.

- Author Unknown

Today is National Flag Day. 🇺🇸

I'm proud to have my new flagpole installed at my home out front, flying the same 8x12' flag we featured at our Macon County Republican's Lincoln Day dinner as the backdrop. I wish all of you a very peaceful and beautiful summer day!

Imagine receiving this letter before you depart toward enemy lines. There was no texting, no emailing, no TikTok, no SnapChat -- no way to adequately call home or let your friends know what you were doing. There was only your deepest commitment to your mission, and to the men on your left and right. We cannot fully know the burden carried in these moments, but we can do everything in our power to appreciate the men who answered the call to defend our great nation and her allies. My prayers today are with everyone who may know the meaning of service and sacrifice, even if from a distance as a relative of our men and women who accept a call of duty in harms way. God bless you all.

I am deeply grateful for all of our brave warfighters that risked their lives on D-Day, today in 1944, to protect and defend the freedom we so cherish. Both of my grandpas served in World War II and I cannot fully imagine the sacrifices made by their generation, fighting a war with limited resources and no creature comforts, yet keeping the spirit of mind to risk everything so that we might have an opportunity at a brighter future. I am so grateful for their commitment to protecting freedom and liberty, which we can all aspire to honor in the rest of our lives.