On November 7th, I was advocating for clean energy and expecting a big boon in business. On November 8th, I was criss-crossing my hometown supporting poll volunteers and hosting a watch party. On November 9th, I was helping to clean out a campaign office with scores of melancholy twenty-somethings. A conversation I had with my wife just a few hours earlier consisted of only a few words. I tried to sneak into bed around 4am and got only this, "Please tell me it didn't happen." Nearly delirious from the long day/night, I could only respond, "I'm sorry, darling, it did."
On November 9th, my world changed, as did many of yours. I had been serving as the Chair of the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee, working with the Clinton campaign's Veteran and Military Families committee, and doing my best to help push the region toward Hillary and away from Donald Trump. We were able to hold him to 48.5%.
With all that has gone on in the first few months that Mr. Trump has been in the White House, I have been cringing and seething and I just couldn't take it any more. I found a way to pay the mortgage and worked on the Mrs., and just a week ago I launched my campaign for Congress.
My story goes back to 1985 when I was at the south end of the lawn at UVa. I struck up a conversation with an Air Force recruiter in an effort to impress my then-girlfriend's father and give her a reason to let me stick around. Thirty-one years later I'm still married to her with three wonderful sons. I served in the U.S. Air Force for more than twenty-four years. I flew F-111s and F-16s, led two combat deployments for Operation Iraqi Freedom, put in a couple years at the Pentagon, and commanded Nellis Air Force Base and the Nevada Test and Training Range (the largest fighter base complex in the country). After retiring from the Air Force, I returned to the Pentagon as a senior civilian executive and established the Department of Defense Siting Clearinghouse, developing policy to promote renewable energy and resiliency in the military while protecting vital military capabilities. Following my departure from the Pentagon, I worked for a wind and solar developer based in Virginia and advocated for clean energy in Washington and state capitals, nationwide, and I gratefully received the Champions of Change Award from the Obama administration for my work as a veteran in clean energy and climate security. I recently founded my own Virginia Beach-based company focused on defense and renewable energy consulting.
I'm running for Congress to ensure that Americans have two things: Security and Prosperity. These two interconnected concepts are the ones every elected official must address in order to be effective. We must have a secure national defense, both at home and abroad. But we must also be secure in where the next paycheck is coming from. We must be secure in our finances to know that one hospital stay won't bankrupt our families and lead to never ending debt. And we must be prosperous. This means knowing that the paycheck we receive is enough to cover basic living expenses. Being prosperous means that we must create a climate where entrepreneurs have the ability to start a new business. Prosperity means that we are conserving our natural resources so that we don't saddle future generations with a planet that is unworkable and unlivable.
I am a veteran who is running for Congress to see my childhood home thrive, to help develop a clean energy economy in Hampton Roads, to make sure that people have usable, affordable health coverage, and to make sure that the United States doesn't lose its standing in the world, regardless of who is in the White House. I want to create a world where my mom with Alzheimer's can receive the care she needs without bankrupting my dad, her primary caregiver. I want to live in a nation where those like my son, who has autism, can get the education they need to be productive members of society. When there are a record low number of veterans in Congress, I think that it is time we send the fighter pilot to Capitol Hill to start mending a broken situation.