My mom and dad were teenagers when they found out they were pregnant with me. They were scared, but they had something too many families are missing now: a real shot.

Housing was affordable. My dad got a factory job with good overtime. They were able to build a stable life and give my sister and me opportunities they never had.

That story is personal to me, but it is also political.

Because if housing and childcare had cost then what they cost now, my family would not have made it. And I know a lot of people in our community feel that same pressure today.

People are working hard, doing everything right, and still wondering whether they or their kids will be able to stay here.

That is what pushed me to run.