Tod Curtis Pulls Out Of 9th District U.S. Congressional House Race

Running for Congress has always been a dream of mine, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to make it happen. I have no regrets whatsoever; I put everything I had into it while still trying to maintain my professional and family life. It is an insane ride to be a candidate, and an honor to have so many people believe in your campaign. I've met so many great people, and I have tremendous respect for those who sacrifice so much to serve in public office.

I can say with absolute certainty that I am not stepping aside due to the work, the commitment, or the challenge. Those are all things that, if you know me, you know I thrive on. There is a reality, though, that raising funds is an absolute necessity to success, and I have fallen shy of what I believe will be necessary to win. I spent many months planning on exactly how and where that support would come from, but in the end the stars just never properly aligned.

I am pleased to say that it was a great experience, that people cheered me on and gave me all the positive vibes and encouragement that I could want. In fact, I really had no "political" nastiness at any turn. I made it clear that I would run a moderate, positive campaign, with the ambition to bring people together and work on the things that we really need to work on. I had just as many Libertarians and Republicans wish me well as Democrats, and in the end I believe we are far more in agreement on what is important in life than what we see on the news and social media, and I'm encouraged by that.

Fortunately, I have primary opponents that are good people and are running for the right reasons. We felt from the beginning, as a group, that it was important to hoist each other up rather than tear each other down, and I'm pleased to tell you that behind the scenes we did just that. We all have a goal of peace and prosperity, and individual freedom and liberty, and we worked hand-in-hand to spread that message. I hope that you will find another candidate that you can support as the race progresses. I have offered to help the others as they continue to campaign, and I'm sure they will take me up on that.

For those of you who gave to the campaign, I appreciate your support and hope to make things right with you moving on. It is extremely difficult to stop the campaign as a candidate, knowing that you are letting so many people down who believed in you. It's a motivating factor each and every day.

To my family, and particularly my wife, Cindy, there could be no better supporters. Cindy was outstanding as my partner, making every meeting and every visit that much better, and we spent countless hours on the road making appearances at events. She was everything a person could want as a friend, let alone wife. We now have a lifetime of memories from just a few months of active campaigning. She may be a better candidate down the road than me!
I appreciate the help of my entire campaign team. I will be posting on my official campaign page in a few days and will thank them in more detail there. I appreciate Eric Alveal sticking by me through thick and thin and his total commitment to what I was doing. He had to put up with an absolute stickler for detail and someone who would constantly forget to tell him about key events we needed to attend.

I'll go back to being just Dr. Curtis, or your friend and neighbor Tod, and no longer have to worry about what will happen to my patients or my office should I be elected. I have spent many years building a practice, and truly care about the well-being of my patients and their families, and that was constantly on the back of my mind.

I will continue to do what I can to make our community and our country better. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to support me. I am one of the luckiest people on earth, with a great family and great community, and look forward to many more years of adventures with all of you.