I grew up in a rural farming community in Marion County, Florida, where my parents moved in the early 90s. My three siblings and I grew up out in the country with a horse and a few dogs on five acres of land. My father had a few different jobs while I was growing up but he mostly worked as a truck driver and then later a construction worker. My mother mostly worked as a waitress and later a school teacher. 

 

Though both of my parents worked hard, we sometimes struggled to afford basic necessities like food and clothes. There were times when food stamps and free meals at school were the only thing keeping my siblings and I from going hungry. When I was very young my father would sometimes come home after dark from working a second job or a late shift, then start working on fixing the house or family vehicles into the late night hours. My mother raised four kids. After we started school, my mother began working part-time jobs and going to community college at night. Eventually, she earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Florida and started teaching. These formative experiences made it impossible for me to believe the stereotypes about lazy moochers living off the government dole. Even though my parents sometimes struggled with the social stigma of being reliant on government programs, or just being poor in general, I always knew how hard they worked to provide for us. I can never forget the importance of these social welfare programs that give poor, hard working families like mine a chance to get ahead in life.

 

However, just as my family was starting to do well economically, the Great Recession pulled the rug out from under us. When the housing bubble collapsed and the economy started to decline a lot of my family members were laid off, along with millions of other US workers. After the construction company my father and I worked for went out of business, he could no longer afford his mortgage. Crime and unemployment surged where we lived at the time. The reckless greed of Wall Street caused such massive and enduring damage, yet the only people ever punished for crashing the economy were working-class folks like my father.

 

At the age of 19 I enlisted in the US Army. I spent two years serving as a helicopter mechanic and spent most of my time in service stationed at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. I first visited Oregon while I was serving and I fell in love with it. After I was discharged under honorable conditions in 2010, I decided to make Oregon my home. I first got involved in politics by attending local city council meetings in Ashland, in 2011. After a few months of watching these meetings an issue came up that I was very passionate about. I felt the need to speak up and give testimony. Eventually, I met other activists and started going to their meetings. I've been involved in Oregon politics ever since. 

 

I served as a member of the Democratic Party of Oregon's State Central Committee for six years, which is the highest authority for the party. During this time I gained a lot of practical experience working on policy and parliamentary procedure with other political activists from around the state. I served as a legislative aide for Rep. Chaichi during the 2023 legislative session. This gave me an inside look at how the Legislature truly functions, especially how inequality is created in a corrupted political process.

 

Whether it comes to co-founding and fundraising for nonprofits that have helped house hundreds of families, organizing ballot initiative campaigns to raise the minimum wage, or volunteering at emergency shelters and for local candidate campaigns, I have more than a decade of experience with making positive political change at the grassroots level that I can draw from to get progressive legislation passed.