Endorsing La Shawn Ford for Congress
When I went to Springfield 12 years ago, I got a seat right next to La Shawn, and I haven’t moved since. Sitting next to La Shawn gave me a front-row seat to his tireless work for the poor, for the sick, for women, for children, for those fighting to overcome addiction, and for those yearning for justice and for opportunity. I’ve seen a leader who isn’t afraid to take on the challenges others say are too big, and champion the ideas others say are too ahead of their time. And above all, I’ve seen someone who knows their why.
Every day when he gets up and goes to his office in Chicago or drives down to our Capitol in Springfield, he knows why the things he’s doing matters—and that’s the north star the guides him through the biggest challenges. And that’s never been more important than right now. Because right now we have a majority in Congress and a president in the White House who want every day to feel like a struggle and who want every issue to be a crisis so they can use emergency powers to do things they know the voters and our Constitution would never permit. They want us to lose our way…to give up what we’re fighting for, to forget our why. When I see the building behind me, where La Shawn has brought us all together today, I see a leader who knows his why. This building stands for opportunity, security, and promises kept—for the older adults who depend on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, for the working people whose future depends on these lifesaving services being there for them, and for the dedicated employees who keep it all running. But Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington are ready to shut this building down. Rather than doing the most basic work of running a government, they’re posting AI-generated joke videos about people losing their jobs, losing their security, and losing their lifelines—because they want everything to feel so hard that we just give up.
La Shawn brought us here because he’s not giving up. La Shawn brought us here because he knows his why, and when you know your why you know that the work in Washington is about so much more than a president’s fragile ego or an out-of-touch agenda—
it’s about people…
…People in need…
…People working to get ahead…
…People who are struggling…
…People who want to make sure their hard work pays off…
…People like the ones La Shawn Ford fights for every day and will never stop fighting for.
That’s exactly why we need La Shawn Ford fighting for us in Washington. My motto is winners do the work, and you know no one does the work like La Shawn Ford. So let’s get up, let’s do the work, and let’s send La Shawn Ford to Congress!