Hi there, it’s Tammy Baldwin. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you a little more about myself, why I ran for the U.S. Senate, and why our campaign in Wisconsin is so important.

When I was a child, I was diagnosed with a serious illness and spent three months in the hospital. When I got better, my grandparents, who raised me, began looking for an insurance policy that would cover me in the future.

But they couldn’t find such a policy because of my previous illness. Not from any insurer. Not at any price. They had to pay for my health care out of pocket — and they had to make enormous sacrifices to do so — all because I was a child labeled with those words: "pre-existing condition."

I got into public service because I saw my grandparents stay up late at night, worried sick that I would fall ill again and that they wouldn't be able to afford my care. No one should ever have to go through that.

Like 133 million Americans, I know what it's like to have the label "pre-existing condition" attached to my care — and before the Affordable Care Act was passed, many of us could be denied coverage.

Today, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against someone based on their pre-existing condition. I championed health reform and fought to allow young people to stay on their parent’s insurance plan up to age 26. These policy changes have led to millions more Americans getting the health insurance they need.

So, you can imagine my frustration whenever Republicans attack our health care or threaten protections for folks with pre-existing conditions — people like me. The GOP has spent years playing politics with people’s lives. And if Mitch McConnell and his Republican mega-donors flip my seat in Wisconsin and take hold of the Senate majority next election, countless Americans could find themselves in a place where insurance companies, once again, write all the rules.

The people of Wisconsin did not send me to Washington to take people’s health care away, which is why I fought against Republican repeal efforts and why I will never back down. But I can’t defend the hard-fought progress we’ve made without your help.

So today, I’m humbly asking: Will you split a donation between my reelection campaign and No Dem Left Behind to defend our Senate majority and prevent Republicans from rolling back the progress we’ve made expanding access to affordable health care?