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A victim of the system and enmeshed in trying circumstances, my biological mother turned to drugs and crime while she was pregnant with me. She didn’t have healthcare during this time and wasn’t able to see a doctor even once. As the mother of seven, she made the difficult decision to put me up for adoption because she lacked the resources to care and raise another child. I learned all of this just two months before I announced my run for Congress. Understanding my biological mother’s story and the circumstances surrounding my birth underscored for me why politics is so important. And it further crystallized my core vision of it - that we need our elected leaders who view the world through the eyes of the most vulnerable. My community needs a leader like that in Congress and I’m running to be that person - someone that fights every day for and with the marginalized and disadvantaged. A champion for working people. This isn’t new for me though. I’ve been fighting for my community since I was 15 years old when I became an advocate for ending gun violence following the Sandy Hook shooting. After the death of George Floyd, I became one of the lead Black Lives Matters organizers in Orlando, where I went out every day to fight for justice and Black lives. I was beaten by cops, tear-gassed, and jailed for those efforts. In 2018, I helped lead the ACLU of Florida’s fight to win Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to over 1.6 million Floridians who had previous felony convictions. While at the ACLU in 2020, I worked to win Biden’s support for abolishing the Hyde Amendment, legislation that has limited abortion access for millions of people. As Organizing Director at March for Our Lives, one of the largest youth political movements in the country, I led an ambitious voter turnout program that helped drive a record number of young people to the polls, helping to hold the House, and win a Democratic Senate, and Presidency. I share all of this with you, so you understand the kind of leader I am and will be. I wouldn’t be asking for your help if there wasn’t so much at stake. Our society is structured in a way that makes life more difficult for the most vulnerable among us. A system that makes it nearly impossible to earn a living wage, obtain access to healthcare, and escape gun violence. And right now, they’re raking in millions in GOP dark money to maintain power and shut out anyone who tries to challenge their destructive policies. I’m ready to fight back in Congress, but if my campaign doesn’t have the funds to get me there, our voices will continue to be silenced. We can’t let that happen.
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