A Life of Uncompromised Advocacy

My political identity as a Yankee Democrat is not abstract; it is forged by a life spent defending fundamental rights. My family arrived in the United States as refugees, fleeing a collapsing Yugoslavia to build a new life in America. That experience is my prologue. It gave me the foundational knowledge that freedom is fragile, dignity must be defended, and injustice must be confronted directly and without compromise.

Forging Independence and Self-Reliance

Like many early Millennials, I graduated in the shadow of the 2008 economic crash. I learned quickly that relying on the system was not an option. This necessity taught me how to build from scratch.

I leveraged a policy background to found a healthcare marketing agency and consultancy for senior care investors in Asia. This entrepreneurial journey across different economies and political environments showed me a stark contrast: while reporting as a freelancer for the Nikkei Asia Review, I saw governments in other nations treat universal healthcare and affordable housing as a right. I understood then that America, despite its wealth, is failing its people because its political class prioritizes elite interests.

The Fight Against the Rigged Game

The knowledge gained abroad became the mandate for my work at home.

After returning to America, I opened my own law firm and founded the nonprofit FronteraTECH.org (with the support of the Emerson Collective). For the last decade, I have worked as a civil rights and immigration lawyer in New Haven and across the South, fighting for families threatened with deportation and workers caught in abusive systems.

My work has been about systemic correction. I know what it’s like to go up against a rigged game designed to strip people of their voice and their rights. I’ve learned that while direct legal action is vital, it isn’t enough. If we don’t shatter the established political levers, the powerful will continue to crush the vulnerable.

The Mandate: From Advocate to Disruptor

Let me be clear: I am a reluctant candidate. I have been content as a business owner and father of three. I would rather not be pulled away from my life. But I know why I am running.

In the narrowest sense, I am running to force a long-overdue conversation about retirement. Our district has never had a primary challenger against an 18-term incumbent. And forcing a primary is the first necessary step in a basket of structural reforms designed to break the cycle of ineffective, entrenched Democratic leadership.

But, my desire to run this campaign transcends mere internal party reform, as critical as it may be to the future of the state and our country at large. It is also about asking voters for the right to lead our state and region into action to safeguard our way of life for future generations. To that end, this campaign is about finding strength in the Constitutional, economic, and cultural levers of our state and the broader Northeast political community—a principle others have failed to articulate or champion. Connecticut needs a representative who will fight with urgency and purpose to assert the continued sovereignty of its values over those of Washington, and who will, when needed, participate in a robust, coordinated defense against an aggressive ideology rooted in the blood-and-soil politics of the disgraced Antebellum South.

In the final analysis, I am stepping into this race not out of ambition or without thought, but out of a sense of responsibility to the state that is my home and to the country that gave my family refuge. This is the moment to bring my outside experience—my willingness to confront the powerful and rebuild broken systems, my ability to build organizations and to think on my feet in a quickly changing landscape —to Congress. We are fighting for a Connecticut and a New England, where healthcare is guaranteed, housing is affordable, our environment is protected, and democracy, peace, the right to life, liberty, and happiness belong to the people of Connecticut once again and forever.