Candidate statement: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman

Twenty years ago, I came to Braddock to start a GED program and help young people find jobs. After two of my students were shot and killed, I ran for mayor to stop the violence. I proudly served as mayor of Braddock for four terms.

During my tenure as mayor, we succeeded in confronting the gun violence epidemic — with Braddock going 5½ years without the loss of life through gun violence. I worked closely with the police and the community, showing up at crime scenes and accidents myself, and helped build trust between the police and the people they serve.

I worked hand-in-hand with the police and the community, and I fought to ensure the police had the funding they needed, helping bring the town grants for surveillance cameras.

I also succeeded in building the Braddock Community Center and bringing new businesses, jobs, affordable housing and health care to Braddock.

I’m running for Senate for the same reason I ran for mayor and then lieutenant governor: to fight for communities and people who were forgotten. Washington, D.C., doesn’t care about places like Braddock or the other towns around Western Pennsylvania that have been left behind.

It’s no secret that we’re facing record high costs all across Pennsylvania. I know the struggles people are facing, and I’ve got a plan to fight inflation and fix our economy. My plan to fight inflation will take this on by making more stuff in America and right here in Pennsylvania, bringing jobs back home, protecting the union way of life and ensuring our communities have the resources they need. These critical policies aren’t Democratic or Republican solutions — they’re pro-America, pro-worker solutions.

We’ve seen bad trade deals that have sold out people on factory floors, and benefited the people in the boardrooms and sent thousands of good-paying union jobs overseas. The bottom line is that we need to expand manufacturing in America and crack down on companies that falsely claim their products are made here, punishing them for ripping off and misleading the American people.

But when it comes to bringing costs down for working Pennsylvanians, we can’t end there. It’s time we crack down on the big, price-gouging corporations that are making record profits while jacking up prices for all of us.

We’ll crack down on this by prosecuting the executives of these huge corporations, including the big oil companies and meatpacking companies who are artificially driving up prices, gouging consumers at the pump and at the grocery store.

Send me to D.C., and you’ll always know exactly where I stand. We may not agree on every issue, but I’m always going to fight for the people of Pennsylvania.

To learn more, please go to johnfetterman.com.