With family in the early 1990s

A Childhood of Transitions

I grew up an Army brat and the oldest of eleven siblings. My mom is Puerto Rican, my dad from Eastern Washington, and they met as cadets at West Point. After they graduated, got married, and had me and my three brothers, their marriage ended when I was nine. My childhood was shaped by constant moves, tight finances, and watching my parents work hard through difficult times, including on the global scale. I was in 6th grade when I watched as the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center. At that moment, I gave up on being an architect and decided I wanted to serve my country. 

My high school years were full of transition. Alternating between living with my dad, step mom, an aunt and even a family friend, I saw first hand the hardships of working class people working full time jobs and often still needing to rely on food stamps to feed the children in their care. By high school graduation in 2008, I had moved a dozen times and gone to three high schools in three different states.

A West Point Education

I applied to only one college, the United States Military Academy at West Point, where I studied Computer Science and trained in military ethics, leadership, and the laws of just warfare. The program was rigorous and tested me in every way, both academically and personally. Like many cadets, I faced challenges that forced me to dig deep, ask for help and support when I needed it, and build the resilience to lead under pressure. Fighting through exhaustion, mental health struggles, family and relationship complications to finish the academy strong shaped my commitment to service. It strengthened my belief that access to support systems, whether in education, health, or community, can change the course of someone’s life. I'll be forever grateful for the mental health care support that I had in the Army, and I graduated in 2013, ready to put those lessons into action as an Army officer.

Serving Our Country

At a Ball in Seoul, South Korea in 2014

I commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Field Artillery branch and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, before reporting to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for Artillery School. While I was there, I got to take Precision Fires where I learned how to use guided munitions and minimize collateral damage. I also learned about the military responsibility to prevent war crimes prohibited by international law and the Geneva conventions–crimes such as indiscriminate or deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and collective punishment, among others.

My first duty station was in South Korea, where I met my wife, a California native and the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, who was teaching English after graduating from Cal Poly Pomona. Around that time, the Army created the Cyber Warfare branch, and I was one of just a handful of artillery officers accepted into the new Cyber Corps. In early 2016, we left Korea for Augusta, Georgia, where I joined the U.S. Army Cyber Protection Brigade on 152 Cyber Protection Team (CPT). I led a mission element specializing in discovery and counter-infiltration, providing cyber support to corps and below units. The work took me to training centers across the country, including Fort Irwin, California, and Fort Polk, Louisiana.

Life Transitions

After finishing my active duty service in 2018, I left the Army so my wife and I could start a family. I always wanted children of my own, but I wanted them to have more stability than the constant moves of my Army childhood. We settled in Northern California, where I worked in nonprofit healthcare at Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek and Oakland, later joining Sutter Health. 

When the pandemic began, we moved to Sacramento County, looking to set down roots where we could raise a family and afford to live. After moving, I earned an MBA from UC Berkeley while working full-time, graduating in 2022 before taking a role in technology consulting with PwC Strategy&.

Like many families, we faced challenges starting a family of our own and pursued IVF. That endeavor was ultimately unsuccessful, and opened my eyes to how corrupt and profit-driven decisions in healthcare can deeply affect people’s lives. This painful experience fuels my commitment to fight for a system that puts people before profits.

I loved my job and the people I worked with at Strategy&, but the state of our country made me so angry that I had to act. I saw peaceful students and ordinary people getting snatched off the street by masked secret police and sent to foreign prisons without due process in violation of our laws, court orders, and the Constitution. I decided I couldn't continue with business as usual. So I quit my job to run for Congress. I believe that our elected representatives have abdicated their responsibility to check the power of the executive branch. I know I can do a better job.

Fighting for Our Future

Let's be frank - our country has been sold out. Our elected officials are in the pockets of billionaires and corporate lobbyists while regular people are struggling to get by. The rich and powerful use their media machines to pit us against each other, blaming immigrants, trans people, and other vulnerable groups so we don’t look up and see the real problem: a ruling class getting rich while the rest of us struggle.

I’ve seen how health insurance companies profit from misery, denying care and jacking up prices just to boost their bottom line. For decades, our government has funneled wealth from working people to Wall Street and the billionaire class. As a disabled veteran who gets care through the VA, I know how dangerous it would be to privatize it. I’m fighting for Medicare for All because healthcare is a human right, and no one should have to go bankrupt just because they got sick. I’m fighting for a government run by the people, not by the billionaires. 

Enough is enough. It’s time our government worked for us, not them. It’s time to fight back.