Melquiades Gagarin 🌹 🇵🇭 🇵🇷Konto zweryfikowane

You would think my time in the punk and hardcore scene has nothing to do with running for Congress. Nothing could be further from the truth. (A ).

As an independent musician, I got to tour in small working class towns that had been left behind by Democrats and Republicans alike, who put Wall Street ahead of mainstreet. These lived experiences inform my platform.

I support experiments in #UBI and #MedicareForAll because I met countless pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps artists contributing to our cultural fabric having to choose between their passions and caring for their families and their health.

I saw punk and hardcore scene legends, who so many of us idolized, relegated to the charity of their fans and GoFundMe to cover basic medical bills.

I support a livable wage because I met people from all generations taking on more than one job to make basic ends meet, exhausted by working hard, yet economic security still out of reach.