About

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 home in Hayward 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 triple or more—lose coverage altogether. It will cost lives. 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 this cruel administration 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.

The future is in the balance for my sons, my family, and yours, and I cannot stomach waiting on others to step up. They are counting on us to fight for them. The good news is it’s not too late. We can fix it. More than ever we must fight for each other 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.

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I’m compelled to run because I believe we are at an inflection point in our history. We cannot afford this broken status quo. Life is expensive and liberty is vulnerable. I run because it is also deeply personal. I think of my sons, just 6 and 3, the future they are set to inherit, and I want to fight like hell.

Both of them have autism diagnoses. The daily grind of parenthood is difficult enough for families. Kids with special needs should be supported—not targeted with government registries and denigrated by quacks.

My wife is the daughter of Ethiopian refugees who fled a genocidal government. They worked hard, built businesses, and created a life as citizens in the United States. The immigrant story should be lauded as quintessentially American—not scapegoated and slandered.

A Republican majority too weak to uphold its oath is too weak to deliver for the American people.

This administration’s lies cannot hide their failures. On housing. On health care. On child care. Every trip to the grocery store itemized in black-and-white are Republican failures.

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.

It is on this basis that I seek your vote.