Everywhere I go across Virginia’s First District, families are telling me the same thing: everything costs more, but paychecks aren’t stretching any further. Groceries, rent, childcare, healthcare, utilities, insurance—prices keep rising, and families feel like they’re doing everything right but still falling behind. For too many Virginians, the American Dream hasn’t just slipped out of reach, it feels like someone moved it entirely.

This crisis didn’t appear overnight. It is the direct result of decades of short-sighted economic policy that prioritized corporate profits and billionaire wealth over the stability of working families. The wealth gap in this country is now wider than at any point since the Great Depression. While CEOs and large corporations post record profits, families in the middle are drowning under the rising costs of simply existing.

As a New Deal Democrat, I believe that a strong economy begins with strong families. We know from history that when working people have stability, opportunity, and fair wages, the entire economy grows. When families thrive, small businesses grow. When workers earn a fair share, communities strengthen. And when billionaires and corporations pay what they owe, the entire nation benefits.

But today, the opposite is happening. Billionaires pay lower effective tax rates than teachers, firefighters, and nurses. Corporations use loopholes to avoid billions in taxes while raising prices and buying back stock. And families are left to shoulder the burden.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

My Plan to Make Life More Affordable for Virginia Families

1. Lower Everyday Costs for Families

We need bold federal action to rein in the costs of essentials—prescription drugs, housing, childcare, groceries, and utilities. That means expanding price-gouging protections, strengthening FTC enforcement, and holding corporations accountable when they hike prices without cause.

2. Raise Wages and Protect Workers

Wages have not kept up with productivity, and families feel that gap every single day. I support raising the federal minimum wage, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, protecting workers’ right to organize, and ensuring that family leave and childcare are affordable and accessible.

3. Restore Fairness to Our Tax System

Working families should not pay a higher tax rate than billionaires. It’s time to close loopholes, end corporate tax giveaways, implement a minimum tax on ultra-wealthy individuals, and require corporations—especially those making record profits—to pay their fair share.

4. Invest in Our Communities Like We Believe They Matter

The original New Deal transformed America by investing in infrastructure, jobs, education, and families. It didn’t just rebuild, it uplifted. We can do that again by expanding affordable housing, modernizing transportation, investing in rural broadband, and creating pathways to good-paying jobs in clean energy, tech, and skilled trades.

5. Stop Corporate Price-Gouging and Market Manipulation

Companies shouldn’t be allowed to raise prices simply because they can. We need stronger antitrust enforcement, limits on stock buybacks, and penalties for corporations that manipulate supply and profit at the expense of family stability.

Why This Matters

Virginia families don’t want handouts, they want fairness. They want a government that works as hard as they do, and an economy that rewards effort, not just wealth. We cannot move this country forward without addressing the structural inequality that holds working people back.

Restoring affordability is not about left or right; it’s about rebuilding the foundation of the American Dream. It’s about ensuring that every family, regardless of zip code or income, has access to stability, opportunity, and dignity.

This campaign is about rewriting the story of what’s possible. About building a country where families can breathe again. A country where hard work leads to a good life. A country where corporations and billionaires contribute their share so that the burden doesn’t fall on those who already give the most.

That’s the future worth fighting for.