This email is about my reasons for running for Congress, and why I believe the stakes in this race are so big. I hope you’ll take a moment to read the whole thing, but if you already know you’re with me, would you pitch in $5 and help me keep fighting for Oregon in Congress for another two years?

When my dad was five years old, he immigrated from Mexico to Texas. He picked cotton and tomatoes in the fields of the Rio Grande Valley, all the while dreaming that one day he would work his way out of poverty and make it to the middle class.

My parents taught me the value of hard work. And I grew up believing that if we worked hard anything was possible.

But when I got to college, I realized my parents didn’t have the money to pay for my tuition and their groceries. So I worked all kinds of odd jobs to put myself through school. It took seven years, but I finished my degree and became the first person in my family to graduate from college.

That got me thinking: How could it be this difficult, when we did everything right? And I know that’s a question on the minds of so many families today across Oregon and our nation.

So many people are working so hard and still struggling. They’re doing everything right, but the cost of housing is too high, the burden of student loan debt is too crushing, and the expense of just one health emergency is so extreme that getting ahead is next to impossible.

Washington needs to do more to help, and I’m working every day to deliver progress. But right now the House is being run by far-right extremists who are, quite frankly, willing to purposefully tank our economy if it means their party can get ahead.

Instead of making life easier for working families, they’re trying to roll back progress on everything from the environment to LGBTQ+ rights to reproductive freedom. To deliver the kind of leadership our nation deserves — the kind of relief working families are counting on — we need to retake our House majority. And it starts with winning right here in Oregon.

This battleground district could decide which party controls Congress, and it’s going to be one of the most competitive races in the entire country. Will you stand with me today and help make sure we have the resources to win what will be a very tough election?

Thank you so much for being a part of this team. I’m honored to have you with me.

-Andrea