Making Life Affordable and Restoring the American Dream

Posted on January 19, 2026

I’m running on a simple promise—to make the American Dream a reality once again. Let’s work toward, “A future you can afford.” Everyday life is too expensive, and Congress needs to act. The cost of living keeps climbing while corporations rake in record profits, and wages for the working classes are stagnant. Health care costs are now set to eclipse the cost of having a roof over one’s head or putting food on the table. Earned benefits are being eroded leaving many seniors and veterans with the inability to make ends meet on their retirement income or earned benefits. Yes, we need long term solutions, but the immediate need is to make life affordable again. And we can do it! But we need to change Washington and how politicians do business. And I need your help to get there!

Here is my plan.

First, let’s bring the cost of living down. I’ll enact fair pricing legislation to bring costs down and vote to raise the minimum wage. I will support legislation that pays fair wage increases for overtime work. For too long corporate profits and CEOs have made the big money while leaving the rest of us behind. The income inequality gap continues to grow and is now the size of the Grand Canyon!

Second, let’s make housing affordable. Our future generation of young people are paying monopolized rents as corporations keep buying apartment complexes and single-family homes that force our youngest in the workforce to spend their entire paycheck just to put a roof over their heads and put food on the table, and force our middle-income earners to choose between paying the mortgage and other essential goods and services. So, I’ll limit large corporations’ ability to purchase homes and apartments AND support tax credits for first-time home buyers.

Third, let’s make childcare a real option—not a luxury. Families are being forced to choose between childcare and basic necessities—so I’ll introduce legislation to train childcare professionals, strengthen facilities, and grow the workforce. I will also fight to increase child tax credits for working families. We need to think out of the box. The status quo does not work. In changing the calculus, we can create jobs with real benefits.

Fourth, let’s fix healthcare. Nobody should be denied coverage or priced out of lifesaving medicine like insulin, or die because they cannot afford treatment when a catastrophic illness strikes. Congress won’t act to fix these problems. I will. I’ll stand up to companies that overcharge for essential care, limit insurance companies’ ability to override medical recommendations and deny coverage, and put price caps on lifesaving medicines like insulin and chemotherapeutic medicines. I have had friends die from cancer because treatments were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I’ll also work to limit fraud in public systems while delivering access to benefits people rely on—because cutting deserving Americans off from healthcare is not the solution. And because rural communities rely on rural hospitals, I’ll vote to fully fund rural healthcare and address underserved rural needs so people don’t have to drive to Houston or Austin for specialized care.

Fifth: Let’s protect Social Security, expand Medicare and Medicaid, and restore and expand Veterans’ benefits—the benefits you’ve earned. I’ll oppose attempts to privatize Social Security. Congress should not be allowed to rob from the Social Security Cookie Jar to pay for its reckless spending habits. Veterans should not have to wait in line for months to get the healthcare appointment they need to diagnose that life threatening condition that will require expensive treatments just because the system failed to treat the condition promptly, before it became life threatening. I am a cancer survivor, but only because I was fortunate to get early detection, and because I received my treatments at a VA facility.

Sixth: Let’s protect small businesses and family farms. Both are economic engines that make our country stronger. I’ll fight to freeze then lower interest rates on loans for small family-owned farms and small businesses and I’ll also empower the Small Business Administration to actively support small businesses, and I’ll support legislation and policies that break up monopolies that crush family-run competition. And we need to cut the unnecessary red tape too. Congress can do this, but they spend way too much time looking at nonproblems and partisan bickering instead of doing the jobs they were elected to do.

Our district deserves someone who’s present, accountable, and actually working for us. This campaign is about representation that actually represents. How many town halls has the current Congressman done? What plans has my democratic opponent laid out to address the issues she talks about? People feel ignored—and they’re right to. I’m running to show up, listen, and deliver. I’m a 30-year Navy veteran, a Latino immigrant who understands what it is to pick oneself up by the bootstraps. I am also a teacher who has seen first-hand the problems faced by our students and teachers, and our education system writ large. And I am farmer/rancher who knows that farmers only want fair markets for their goods not handouts from Uncle Sam. And let’s not stop there. Let’s put term limits on elected representatives. The Founding Fathers never intended federal elected office to be a lifetime career. I’m Eustaquio “Stock” Castro-Mendoza and I am running to be the steady, accountable voice this district deserves.