Longtime organizer and progressive activist Matt Ortega announced his candidacy for the open seat in California’s 14th Congressional District pledging to fight for a future we can afford.

I am a husband, father, small business owner, and union member. My wife and I are also renters. Her parents are Ethiopian immigrants who realized the American dream. My family was able to afford a Hayward home on one income. Yet for families like ours, home ownership is out of reach today.

We’ve seen our health care premiums jump 71%. Many families face premiums that will double or triple. Or lose coverage altogether. We pay rising energy bills and our groceries are getting more expensive. We could only afford to pay for one of our two sons to attend daycare part-time. Families are stretched thin as the federal government slashed Medicaid, played politics with food assistance, and illegally shuttered agencies that help people. We can only hope to get by while the wealthy and powerful get more. It’s unfair, it’s unsustainable, and it must end.

I refuse to stand idly by as my sons and your children grow up with an uncertain future. They are counting on us to fight for them. Our system is failing us but we can still turn it around and the time to do it is now.

That’s why I am declaring my candidacy to represent the people of California’s 14th Congressional District.

I am not new to this fight. I’ve spent my career improving the lives of working people by fighting for better health care, support for teachers and schools, a cleaner environment, the rights of vulnerable communities, and freedom for all.

Right now, the urgency of the moment could not be clearer. The administration’s knee is on our neck while the powerful pick our pockets. It declares our struggles a “hoax” as it disappears people off the street by masked agents. This administration is enabled by partisans in judicial robes and legislative cowards. A Republican majority too weak to uphold its oath is too weak to deliver for the American people.

The wreckage of this administration requires a new direction for a new time. We can’t afford the status quo. Something different must take its place. This great struggle rests upon a bold vision for the American people and I intend to offer it.

I’m running to fight for a future we can afford—and the freedom to live it.