Kentucky needs more regular folks in public office. That’s why I’m running for Congress.
Do you remember what you were doing on Jan. 6, 2021? I was teaching a science class online in my living room when I got a text from my uncle to turn on the news. What I saw that day was devastating. Domestic terrorists were vandalizing our Capitol and killing cops. Before this day, I was active in politics by helping local candidates and staying informed, but I did not see myself running for office. Once the shock of Jan. 6 transformed into a determination to preserve our democracy, I knew I had to do more. Weeks after, I looked at different elected positions to figure out where I felt I could help the most and had a good chance of winning. On Thursday, Dec. 9, I, Chris Preece, filed to be on the ballot to run for U.S. Congress. I am a regular guy running for office, and you should think about doing the same. We need regular people who know what it is like to live a regular life, running for elected offices to prevent our government from continuing to be ruined by the wealthy elite and career politicians. I challenge you to join me in running for elected office, at any level.
The wealthy elite are funneling money into our elections at an alarming rate, making it harder for regular folks to win races without kissing up to them for their money. This allows them more control over who is running because you otherwise would not have the money to run ads, and pay staff to win. In 2020, Big Pharma injected over $11 million into campaigns. A slight majority of that $11 million went to Republican candidates, according to an article by Lev Facher at STAT. Regardless of the party, their oppressive influence on our elections must stop. The last thing Big Pharma wants is to allow our government to negotiate lower prices or even allow for medical marijuana, which 91% of Americans agree on from a PEW research poll. Many people, even my father, must pick and choose which of their medications to buy in a given month because we are price gauged. We stop the wealthy elite from taking over our elections by passing campaign finance reform that makes running for office more feasible for regular folks like us, who know and live these struggles.
Institutionalized career politicians like Andy Barr, Mitch McConnell, and Nancy Pelosi need to step aside. I am a term-limit candidate. No politician should be able to stay in the same seat for a generation and grow as powerful as Mitch McConnell. It is the job of our government to govern, which means reaching across party lines and writing policies that help us live our lives. As your representative, I will do just that. Today, these entrenched career politicians stand on opposite sides screaming at one another, blaming the other for all the problems in our country while leaving people in need to hang out and dry because they do not know what it is like to be in our shoes. Instead, we need new representation, someone who will find common ground to govern and relieve some of our struggles.
Y’all are good common-sense people, and I am sure you can point to more issues that are harming our democracy right now. Social media misinformation, gerrymandering, and the lack of accountability at the top are all significant issues that deserve attention and their own articles. The wealthy elite and the career politicians entrenched by them are a major source of the problem.
Having grown up in a holler as a free-and-reduced lunch kid to being a teacher for the past 11 years, I know what it is like to live an everyday life here, as I do in the beautiful small town of Berea. I have dedicated my life to teaching science to our kids, even going as far as making science comic books to better engage students in learning science. I have also experienced my fair share of struggles in life and witnessed many of the struggles people in our community face, like one of my past students who could not afford to get a new pair of glasses to see the whiteboard in the front of class clearly, or a single parent who is working two jobs and still needs government assistance. The wealthy elite do not have our interests at heart, and career politicians often get too big for their britches and forget where they came from. It ain’t right to let them keep treating us this way. As I look at my newborn son, I know I am standing up for a better future for him, just as we all do for our kids. This is why we need regular folks to stand up and run for office, to represent us, not them. The current filing deadline to run is Jan. 7, 2022. Talk with your family over the holidays, take time to think about how you can help, and jump in. Together we can have the representation we need and preserve our democracy.
Chris Preeece is a high school science teacher in Berea, comic book creator, new dad, and candidate for U.S. Congress in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District.
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 1:22 PM.