We are now at war with Iran.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched surprise airstrikes across Iran, killing Supreme Leader Khamenei and dozens of civilians. This happened one day after Oman's foreign minister announced a diplomatic breakthrough where Iran had agreed to downgrade its enriched uranium and accept full IAEA verification. Peace was within reach. They chose war anyway.
Iran retaliated with missile strikes against Israel, US bases across the Middle East, and Gulf states. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Global trade is disrupted. Gas prices are spiking. Thousands of people are dead, including civilians on all sides. US fighter jets are being shot down. And the President is threatening to bomb Iran back to "the Stone Ages."
This did not happen overnight. This was years in the making.
Congress funded this
Congress spent the last two years funding Israel's offensive capabilities with minimal conditions and zero accountability. The $16 billion aid package that passed the House in April 2024 provided the weapons, the missile systems, and the military infrastructure that made the Twelve-Day War in June 2025 possible, and that made this war possible. The members of Congress who voted for that package, including our own representative in CA-15, enabled this.
Our representative has taken over $743,000 from AIPAC-affiliated organizations. He voted for unconditional military aid. He voted to censure the one member of Congress who was vocal about Palestinian civilian deaths. He refused to support a ceasefire resolution while his own constituents protested outside his office every Friday for over a year. He has publicly called himself a pro-Israel lawmaker.
And now we are watching the consequences of that in real time.
I know what war costs
I lost my brother Andrew in the Iraq War. I deployed to Iraq myself. I came home disabled. I know exactly what it costs when politicians vote to fund wars they will never have to fight in, and I know who pays the price. It is never the people writing the checks. It is never the lobbyists. It is never the members of Congress. It is the service members, their families, and the civilians caught in the middle.
This is what bought-and-paid-for foreign policy looks like
Politicians take money from lobbying organizations, vote to arm foreign governments with no conditions, and then act surprised when those weapons get used to start wars. They're not surprised. They knew. They just decided the money was worth it.
We need members of Congress who refuse money from organizations that lobby for unconditional military aid. We need representatives who will demand conditions on weapons transfers, including compliance with international humanitarian law and genuine pursuit of diplomatic solutions. We need people in office who understand that diplomacy is not weakness and that war should be the absolute last resort, not a first strike launched the day after a peace deal was on the table.
I am running for Congress because I have seen what war costs. Not from a briefing room. Not from a committee hearing. From the ground. From a VA hospital. From a gravesite. The people who keep voting to fund these wars without conditions do not know what they are paying for. I do.