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Sandra Smith Congdon is a Maine Democrats campaign volunteer and Saco Democratic Committee member.

I’m out every weekend canvassing for Troy Jackson in York County with the hope that we can flip the U.S. Senate because Maine is central to that fight.

I grew up in a working-class family in the ’70s and ’80s. My father worked in construction and my mother worked in retail, both in unions that provided them with fair wages and good healthcare. They worked hard to put food on the table for our family and made sure we had what we needed and sometimes could even afford things that we “wanted.”

The reason I’m supporting Troy is because I see a lot of working-class people today who can no longer afford basic needs. Troy wasn’t my first pick to run against Susan Collins but the more I hear him speak and hear others talk about him, the more I believe he’s the right choice for Maine. His working-class roots and his experience in the Maine Senate show that he is a fighter and will work hard for Mainers. 

Mostly I’m out knocking on strangers’ doors because I cannot believe what I’m seeing every day in our Capitol. The bombastic man occupying the Oval Office has staffed his cabinet with sycophants whose only qualifications are blind loyalty and public praise of their boss. His only consistent policy is maximizing financial gain for himself and the billionaires who understand his pay-to-play mindset.

He isn’t listening to, nor does he care about, working-class people. He doesn’t see that the average American is struggling to afford food, fuel, healthcare, childcare, housing and other basic needs. He doesn’t even try to hide the corruption or his all-important ego, focusing on buying or bullying his name onto whatever he can in an attempt to paint himself a legacy in D.C. vs. earning it from the American people.

But worst of all is the lack of accountability, because Republicans in Congress are unwilling to stand up to his schoolyard bullying and brazen grift. They are showing the American public very clearly that their hold on power is far more important to them than the well-being of our great nation.

We need to flip the House and the Senate in the midterms to bring back checks and balances (not to mention basic accountability) to this administration. We cannot afford another two years of expensive pet projects, a continuing war in Iran driving up fuel costs, the whittling away of our education system, legislation that makes it harder to vote, abuse and alienation of our allies, deaths of U.S. citizens at the hands of ICE and tariffs that are being passed on to American consumers. We cannot afford children going hungry because of SNAP cuts, an EPA that is enabling the destruction of the planet, whitewashing or erasing U.S. history and a lack of AI regulation that could quickly get out of human control.

I encourage you all to tune out the negative campaign ads that stretch the truth and look at how we can be better humans and get back to having an American dream again where basic needs are met and working people can even afford some wants. This will not happen with the current administration or Susan Collins’ consistent enabling. As everyone can clearly see, Collins votes with the Republicans 95% of the time and only doesn’t when her vote won’t make a difference. Collins may have been a moderate at some point during her career, but she no longer fits that definition. 

Please vote for Troy Jackson and other Democratic candidates so working-class people, not just billionaires, have a shot at the American dream.