Who I Am
I am NOT a career politician, a multi-millionaire, or a media personality. I am your neighbor. I work full-time as a retail manager, and know firsthand the choices most families have to make when it comes to putting food on the table or paying rent. I am a proud father, and I love mt son dearly. He deserves to grow up in a community that fosters prosperity, security, and equity for all.
I know what it’s like to have student loans. I know what it’s like to make less than $45,000 a year. I know what it’s like to have to work long hours to provide for my family. These truths do not deter me from running for office, but rather encourage that I am the right choice for my community. In a government that has become bought and paid by billionaires and corporate interests, I vow to serve the community and the nation that my son will grow up in.
What was your childhood like?
It is no secret I am an adopted son of Pennsylvania, and for a long time I missed Connecticut. Sometimes I still do think about my childhood and the way of life we had, and wish I was still there. However, then I realize, it wasn’t living in Connecticut that made that past so pleasant, it was living in a stable economy, in a world where it still felt like you could be anything you dreamed of becoming.
I graduated in 2014 from James Hillhouse High School, in New Haven, CT; having utilized a magnet school program to attend the school in spite of my living in Derby, CT at the time. I wanted to go to Hillhouse because of the U.S Army JROTC program that the school offered, and I toughed out a long daily commute, to make sure I could be a part of that program.
At Hillhouse I learned a lot, as a white male in a predominantly white suburb, I grew up with little exposure to diverse cultures and people. Hillhouse taught me that stereotypes are far from true, that what I had learned as a kid from the adults around me was false. That people should be judged on their character, not on their culture or their color.
Hillhouse also taught me the foundations of leadership that become the bedrock of my managerial career. The confidence to lead was fostered by my JROTC instructors who encouraged me to take on more and more responsibility, and to grow as a student leader. To this day I live my life by the values that I learned in JROTC; Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selflessness, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage.
What sickens me now is seeing our country’s leaders fail to live up to even the most forgiving standard of these values. I am disgusted seeing them fail to uphold the Constitution, and the American way of life. I believe that if your values can be corrupted by money, then you never truly had values.
What is your professional background?
Growing up I had wanted to join the military and spent much of my adolescence working toward that goal. My first reality check as an adult was finding out that my severe anaphylactic nut allergy was actually a disqualifier from military service. Depressed, beat down, and honestly dejected; I left Connecticut and moved to Pennsylvania “temporarily” to help my father plan for his wedding to, my now mom, Gloria.
I worked with my grandfather on his chimney and roofing business for the summer, before deciding I needed more stable income and applying with no experience at a handful of places. I was lucky to get the chance to be part of the opening crew at Qdoba in Williamsport. It was in Qdoba that I really discovered my knack for management. Since then I have worked a few local businesses in hospitality, and food, and now currently am a member of the management team at Kohl’s.
In my line of work, I see the direct impact that the decisions in D.C have on everyday working people. How tariffs can raise prices overnight; how inflation can force hard decisions at the register; how as times become harder, theft becomes more common.
I am no lawyer, no doctor, no politician; I am an average guy, living an average life, and honestly just looking to bring some perspective to Congress.
What is your education?
After leaving High School I briefly attended Elmira College in Elmira, NY. I was ambitious, and wanted to be the first in my family to graduate from college. I was encouraged by adults in my life to take on massive debt, to trust in the system, and to push forward. My biological mother told me she could get a loan through her job and encouraged me to commit to Elmira although our family was financially not in a position to afford the school. At the time 17 year old, glossy eyed, and naive me; listened and packed my bags for a school I would never graduate from. My mother, never materialized that loan, she never paid the bill, and I was ejected from the school midway through the second term.
That was when I came home to Connecticut and discovered that my nut allergy would prohibit my enlisting in the U.S Army. In the span of 1 month, my American dream had been crushed. My ideal life that I spent my entire childhood planning, was not going to happen. That depression that I experienced as a result was some of the darkest thoughts I had ever had. I was fortunate to have loving family to help soften the blow, but I felt and sometimes still feel, like I am “less than” because I failed to achieve my goals.
Today I am lucky to have a company that sees value in my continued education, that is willing to step up and pay for me to develop as a business professional, while I work hard to get the degree I never was able to achieve.
Even so, without a degree I make it a point to stay informed, to remain ever curious, and always open to new information. My education may not be from a Ivy League institution, or come framed in any way, but I am educated with hands on real life experiences that no amount of credits could ever provide.
WhO is your family?
Family for me has always been a loose term, there are blood relatives who I barely talk to, and unrelated people who I call my “sister”, “brother”, “uncle” and more. Family is who you choose to be a part of your story.
For me my family is; my mother, Gloria; my father, Dan; my son, Charlie; my sisters and brothers, both by blood and by friendship; and the extended family I have accumulated through love, through loss, and through lineage.
I view my role as a father to be the most important role I have ever had. There is no responsibility larger than my responsibility to raise a respectful, kind, strong, and prepared man. In many ways I am running for Congress because of the duty I feel to provide a better future for my son. I know that should I be fortunate enough to earn the vote of this district, I am sacrificing valuable time with my son, valuable formative time that I can never get back.
However, the opportunity to make a change so that my son never has to feel too poor for an education, so that my son never has to feel like his dreams are gone, so that my son can have the American Dream I was promised but never provided; that opportunity is greater than the lost sunsets at the park, the lost cuddles on the couch, and the lost laughter in my home.
I am not running for congress to make it a career, I hope that if I am elected that I can drive serious change in a short time to feel confident that I can return to my normal life, and return to being a full-time father. That I can cherish the years I have with my son before he’s a teenager hiding in his bedroom.
I am running to give us all the peace of mind that our children’s future is secure; that our kids can grow up and be better than us, do better than us, and have better than us.