Usually, I try to keep my message on Veterans Day positive and nonpartisan. Talk about what it meant for me to serve and how my country provided a path for me to achieve the American dream.

But not this year.

Instead, I'm thinking about how Brian Fitzpatrick will do what he always does: Say one thing and do another.

Because until Brian Fitzpatrick apologizes to veterans for voting to slash the VA budget by 22% – something that would effectively destroy the health care of men and women who put their lives on the line for all of us – I don't want to hear a damn word from him.

I joined the Army at just 17 in search of stability and a way to afford my education. What I found was a sense of purpose and unity. I had my troops’ backs, and they had mine. I became an Apache pilot, and suddenly my whole job was protecting my brothers and sisters-in-arms on the ground.

I expected the same protection from our so-called leaders. But instead of protecting veterans who risked everything for his freedom, Brian Fitzpatrick stabbed all of us in the back and played politics with our health care.

That's why I’m done with Brian Fitzpatrick and why I'm determined to beat him at the ballot box.

Because my fellow vets, the working families of PA-01, women, LGBTQ+ kids, seniors – we deserve a representative who will protect us in the halls of Congress. That's what I'll do if I beat Fitzpatrick, just like I did for my squad from the cockpit of my Apache helicopter.

Whether or not that happens depends on raising the money we need to win from supporters like you. Can you pitch in?

Thanks for being in this fight with me,

Ashley