Right now, while working families struggle to afford groceries and healthcare, the programs that help them survive are under attack. These programs save lives when we fund them. I've lived it. That's why I'm fighting back.

Like many other kids my age, I grew up as a child of divorced parents. It was a struggle for them to keep my brothers and me in a good school district. We received discounted lunches at school back in the '90s when that was even more stigmatized than it is today. My brother and I recently discussed the hot pink lunch cards we were given. Maybe the other kids didn't notice, maybe the teachers and kitchen staff didn't judge, but in those moments it felt like it. For my family it was assistance, but there are families where school meals may be their only meal of the day. With how unaffordable things are today, an arbitrary salary cap puts food insecure kids at even further risk. We can invest in both our farms and our kids' futures bringing farm-fresh food from Pennsylvania farms to our schools for free meals for our kids.

When my son was born he spent the first week in the NICU, and once we brought him home we had a seemingly never-ending list of specialists he needed to see. We were fortunate to qualify for medical assistance that allowed us to ensure he received the care he needed. We also qualified for WIC and we have family that qualifies for SNAP benefits as well today. These essential assistance programs meant we never had to make the choice between healthcare and eating. They're part of our rural economic infrastructure! These benefits keep our local grocery stores viable, which preserves jobs, maintains food access, and keeps money circulating in our communities. Without them, we'd see more food deserts and more rural families forced to drive 30+ miles for groceries.

After my son was born, my wife was pregnant again, but unfortunately around 20 weeks we were told the pregnancy was not viable. The baby's kidneys never developed. As a result there was no amniotic fluid, the lungs would never develop, and my wife would most likely be facing a life-threatening miscarriage. As painful as it was, we had the option to take the doctor-recommended course of action to terminate the pregnancy. Later, we were blessed with the chance to try again and a daughter. But now in a post-Dobbs world, I'm terrified for her if she ever faces the situation we had to.

As my son grew older he received an autism diagnosis, and we've received special education support in three different school districts. Education in general is under attack. Pennsylvania is failing to meet its constitutional mandate to provide a 'thorough and efficient' education to all students. We spend more per student on unregulated cyber charter schools than we do for brick and mortar schools. The eight school districts that make up HD-111 spend over $12 million dollars annually on cyber charters! Our schools are also our top employers in Susquehanna and Wayne counties. More money for schools also means more jobs in our communities.

Like many other families in this district, several members of my family have served in the armed forces. My youngest brother was looking to join them after high school. During boot camp he injured his shoulder and was prescribed opioid pain killers. Injured and addicted, he transitioned to the reserves and wrapped up his brief time with the services. However, he no longer had insurance and his developing problem transitioned to heroin. My last messages with my brother were about how he had been struggling. Not just with addiction but with trying to move forward with life. He was set to start a new job in a few days, he had just visited my other brother hours before in a seemingly optimistic mood, and we hoped things were looking up for him.

It's been almost ten years now and this past October would have been his 40th birthday. I don't know that Medicare for All would have saved his life, but I can tell you that going to jail didn't. Pennsylvanians spend close to $3 billion annually on our prison system, with a recidivism rate approaching 50% to show for it. We criminalize addiction and mental health instead of treating them. It costs us billions, but it doesn't make us safer and it doesn't help our families heal. Medicare for All solutions do more than just save us all much-needed money, as stated above I believe it can help with both addiction and recidivism. In addition to providing us all more much-needed access to healthcare, healthcare is one of the top employers in Susquehanna and Wayne counties.

Every one of these experiences taught me that our safety net works when we invest in it, and fails when we don't. Thousands of families in this district face these same struggles every day. I'm running now because we deserve a representative who doesn't just talk about these issues in a committee room, but has lived them at a kitchen table. All of these problems we face on a day-to-day basis are because the focus is always on someone else's profits and not Pennsylvanians!

Republicans have controlled the Senate every single year since 1994 and the House for 25 of those 31 years. That's the definition of status quo! If their ideas worked, we wouldn't have crumbling infrastructure, underfunded schools, and families choosing between groceries and prescriptions. We wouldn't be the only state surrounding us, other than West Virginia, that hasn't legalized cannabis, letting millions of wasted revenue leave our state. We wouldn't be the only state in the top ten of natural gas producers, we rank second, without a severance tax on natural gas extracted, again leaving us missing out on millions of dollars of revenue.

The Republican status quo has kept us struggling to survive. It's time we thrive. There's so much work ahead, but if even one of these experiences resonates with you, if you remember your own hot pink lunch card, or you've worried about a loved one's addiction, or you've fought to get your kid the services they need, then you understand why I'm running. We deserve a representative who's lived these struggles, not just voted on them. Together, we can build that future.