The very real sense I get on the campaign trail from people across Philly is that this upcoming election has unique energy.

Part of it relates to the growing backlash to American fascism. That’s what it is, and we must not fear naming the nature of the crisis and its source: Trump. Fear only entrenches fascism’s success. ICE, the spearhead of fascism in the U.S., operates through anonymity because it understands that truth. People understand ICE – and fascism – must be abolished.

The other component is outrage over the flood of international humanitarian crises compounding one another, from Russia’s bloodthirsty conquest of the Ukraine, to the atrocities in Sudan, to the terrible slaughter of more than 70,000 Palestinians in an ongoing genocide as the Netanyahu administration continues reacting to the massacre of 1,200 people on October 7, 2023. People understand systemic violence, including abroad, is wrong.

At home, prices rise while wages stagnate. We talk about the cost of living increasing without recognizing failure to pay those costs means dying. We are being priced out of our ability to survive. From food on the table to care on a hospital bed, whether you make it to tomorrow is about how much money you have today. In the richest country ever, most of us are one serious ailment from unemployment or eviction. It’s no wonder we feel played.

These tragedies are not the product of a broken international or domestic order. They are harm-by-design. They are guaranteed outcomes of intentional choices. This is the system working. And there are a consistent set of players manipulating our lives toward pain.

The same people that make money off endless wars are profiting off our need to survive. They are gouging prices on eggs, coordinating raised rents, using private equity funds to buy up homes until they own our neighborhoods.

They are pummeling our democracy with dark money. Hundreds of millions in pharmaceutical PAC money to kill Obamacare. Hundreds of millions funneled through AIPAC to suffocate important conversations about the nature of conflict in Palestine. Hundreds of millions to convince us that data centers that explode utility, asthma and cancer rates are somehow economic boons to struggling communities.

Billionaires are the problem, and they are not part of the solution. When people can prey on the fundamental need for each of us to eat a meal, to have shelter, to breathe air or drink water, the result is society rooted in exploitation rather than care.

I am running for Congress because we need to focus on guaranteeing the basics of sustenance, care and opportunity. Food; clean air and water; housing; healthcare; community safety; reliable and expansive public transit; quality childcare and public education; basic income, good jobs and a living wage for all – each of us need these fundamentals to get to tomorrow. Government should be in the business of giving us the chance to thrive instead of selling our lives to the highest bidder.

From coordinating local-to-federal responses to ending illegal dumping to stopping Blackstone from buying the block, we deserve a Congressmember who fights for the many, not the monied.

We’ve seen junior Congressmembers accelerate social change through sticking to core principles even when fascist politics inevitably enters its bullying phase. Standing up for principle matters; bullies fear bravery.

I am running in this moment because we are ready for a better world and know that we will never build the world we need by ignoring the realities of the world we share.

We are the only ones who see us; only we can free us.