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Meet Anna
I am a mom, USAF Veteran, and Wife. I also happen to be one of the youngest members of congress. My upbringing was very different from the majority of those on Capitol Hill. I didn’t come from a political pedigree, money, or attend an Ivy League college. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
My father, for as much as he loved me, struggled with substance abuse for most of my childhood. I was exposed to a lot of it because of that. I would go see him, and we would go grocery shopping with food stamps. He was in and out of jail until later in my teens and, at one point, became homeless. It wasn’t until I was a young adult that he got clean. When he did, we were able to catch up on all the time we missed. Sadly, he passed away in January of the year I got elected and was not able to see me become a member of Congress, but I know he would have been proud to see what I have accomplished.
My mom also struggled, but she persevered through those struggles. My mom had me at 20 and was a single mother. My parents never married. Her family had also been heavily impacted by drugs, and her dad was not in the picture. We were on our own. My mom eventually ended up getting married, but it was an extremely abusive relationship. At one point, we sought help and tried to go to a women’s shelter with my little sister and brother, but the conditions of the temporary shelter were so bad and unsafe that she had to bring us back home.
The only time I could get away from what was happening at home was by going to stay with my dad, and as I mentioned, that was also very chaotic. Going into my sophomore year of high school, my mom escaped her abusive marriage and applied to and attended law school while raising my younger sister, brother, and me. Things were tough, but we made it work.
This is the first time I have ever publicly spoken about this. Seeing what my family went through, particularly my mom, instilled a deep desire to stand up for those being hurt and to do the right thing. My parents may not have been perfect, but I did learn from their strengths and mistakes, and I am extremely proud of them both.
My story is a true embodiment of the American dream. What I tell people, especially those struggling, is that you may not be able to control the circumstances in which you are born, but you can control the outcome. I had to grow up fast… but through it all, I never stopped fighting. Because of hard work and perseverance, I am now a member of Congress. The American dream is alive and well, and I am living proof.
At 19, While serving in the United States Air Force, I met my husband, Andy. He is a Bronze Star recipient who earned a Purple Heart when enemy combatants shot him in Afghanistan. After recovering, Andy redeployed to fight ISIS in the Middle East.
After his injury, both Andy and I became involved with several veteran-focused and veteran-led non-profit organizations, including one whose mission is to end child trafficking through rescue and recovery operations.
As I became more deeply involved in that work, I began to using my social media platform to speak out against the problem of human and child trafficking across the southern border. I was at being immediately attacked as a racist and called "white-washed" due to my skin color - despite being a 2nd generation American and a descendent of Mexican immigrants on her mother and father's side.
I resolved to speak out even more about the humanitarian crisis enabled by porous borders. And people began to take notice.
Just as I was about to leave to start a medical school program, Charlie Kirk reached out to me and asked me to join Turning Point U.S.A as the National Director of Hispanic Engagement. Faced with a tough choice, I consulted with one of her mentors, a neurosurgeon, who counseled me that I would impact far more people's lives for the better by shaping legislation than she could in an entire career as a physician. And so, I chose to begin her career as an advocate.
As my profile rose, I was somewhat surprised that the elitists who run most of America's big media outright refused to let me share my views on border security, the failings of the welfare system, and many other issues.
That was my "aha" moment.
I decided to run for Congress because she recognized that the media had to cover what was going on in Capitol Hill. As someone who has lived experience with the problems that plague many of America's communities, especially low-income and minority ones, I am committed to showing people that there is another way and that big government is primarily the problem, not the solution.
I believe the far-left wing that now controls Congress, along with its elitist media enablers, does not truly value Americans – impoverished minorities – for anything more than their votes.
As a mixed-race female who fought my way out of hard life circumstances by joining the United States military, I developed my political beliefs due to my own lived experience.
I knows the leftist power structures will stop at nothing to keep someone who looks like me and grew up the way I did from being able to impact public policy if they have right-leaning beliefs.
And I know that it is because I can directly contradict their false narratives about far-left ideologies like open borders, defund the police, government dependency, and overtaxing/overregulating being helpful to people trapped in communities like where I grew up.
Nobody is hurt more by these types of radical policies than the tens of millions of poor and often minority Americans trapped in inner-city cycles of poverty and violence perpetuated by decades of failed big-government policies.
I learned that the hard way – through her lived experience.
After fulfilling every one of my campaign promises during my first term, I am running for Congress because I wants to enact reforms to create real solutions for these types of real-world problems.
I will fight every day against the elitist political establishment that has for far too long left average Americans behind
