Friend,

My name is John Padora. I’m a manufacturing engineer, a husband, and a father — and I come from a long line of working-class fighters who believed in this country before it believed in them.

I’m not a politician. I’m a working man who’s fed up with the lies, the corruption, and how our “leaders” look down on families like mine. That's why I'm running for Congress. Will you join me by pitching in $5, $10, or more to help start my campaign off strong?

A hundred years ago, my great-grandparents boarded a boat from Southern Italy with nothing but hope in their pockets. They were fleeing authoritarian rule and economic despair, chasing a dream — the promise that if you worked hard, you could build a better future for your children.

That dream carried through the generations.

My family helped build this country — in the coal mines, in the fields, and with their hands. My grandfather farmed the land. My mother became a nurse and a caretaker. My father was a carpenter who taught me that hard work wasn’t something to avoid — it was something to be proud of. He gave me a hammer, nails, and an unrelenting work ethic, and told me to never quit, no matter how tough it got.

I grew up in a blue-collar town where people made things with their hands — homes, bridges, machined parts, futures. We weren’t rich, but we were proud. We believed in dignity, in honesty, in community.

And now? I look around and wonder what my great-grandparents would think of what America has become.

While working families are drowning in debt, MAGA Republicans like Donald Trump and Lauren Boebert push tax cuts for billionaires and call it “freedom.” They look to gut Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, and Social Security to pay for it — all while the rich buy their fifth yachts and vacation homes.

The cost of groceries is out of control. Healthcare is more expensive and more inaccessible than ever. And manufacturing — the backbone of this country — is teetering on the edge thanks to reckless trade wars and corporate greed.

They say this is patriotism. But it’s a lie.

Trump and Boebert don’t care about the American Dream. They care about power. They care about keeping working families like mine divided and distracted while they loot our future.

That’s why I’m running for Congress — because we have one shot to stop this madness, and it runs right through Colorado’s 4th District. They moved Lauren Boebert here because they thought she’d be safe. They thought we’d be too quiet. Too tired. Too disconnected.

We’re building a movement of working people — factory workers, nurses, farmers, teachers, caregivers, veterans, and parents — who are sick of being treated like we don’t matter. We’re talking to independents. We’re meeting with moderate Republicans. We’re focusing on kitchen table issues that actually affect people’s lives.

Will you pitch in today — $10, $25, whatever you can — to help us build the momentum to take back this district?

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Let’s remind them what real patriotism looks like.

It’s standing with your neighbors, not turning on them. It’s lifting each other up, not tearing each other down. It’s fighting for a future where our kids can afford to go to the doctor, where they can dream without being buried in debt, and where no one is too poor to live with dignity.

That’s the America my family came here to find. It's the America I still believe in. It's the America I'm willing to fight for.

I'm grateful to have you on my team,
John Padora

Paid for by Padora for Colorado