In politics, people often try to introduce you before you have the chance to introduce yourself. So let me speak plainly.
I’m 29. I’ve spent time visiting in Florida, but my life, family, and career are rooted in New York. As a Republican, I’ve stood in rooms at Mar-a-Lago and organized with conservatives in Palm Beach. As a member of a multi-ethnic family, I’m equally at home standing at a Black Lives Matter demonstration beside people who see the world differently. I believe in backing the blue. I also believe every person deserves to be seen, heard, and treated with dignity.
That may not fit neatly into a political box. Good. I don’t either.
And I don’t think most people do. We are not the cartoon versions social media makes us out to be. Most people want safety, affordability, and a better future for their children. That’s why I’m running for Congress in New York’s 18th District.
Washington is failing because too many leaders have turned public service into political theater, and the people paying for it are the ones who can least afford it.
I grew up in Kingston, in a family business whose work is etched into the Hudson Valley. For over 20 years, our crane and construction companies have built the housing, schools, and infrastructure our communities rely on. As a project manager and managerial accountant, I learned that results matter – in construction, the work either holds or it doesn’t.
Washington has forgotten that. Politics now is just outrage, television hits, and fundraising off anger. My opponent, Pat Ryan, went to Washington as an outsider promising to take on the system. Two terms later, he is the system, another self-serving politician obedient to party leadership and biding his time for the next office. But cable news hits don’t lower costs for Hudson Valley families. And his failed attempt to remove me from the November ballot showed he’s terrified of letting the voters decide.
The division we see every day is manufactured by platforms built to keep people enraged and engaged, while artificial intelligence quietly reshapes the economy. Entry-level jobs once gave people their first step towards building a stable future. Now those pathways are disappearing, while social media replaces shared reality with personalized distortion. The cost is showing up in loneliness, addiction, and a mental health crisis touching too many families in my district.
You cannot solve a housing crisis from a soundbite. And you cannot help the next generation find a future here by scoring points against the other party.
Families here are working harder than ever and still losing ground. People my age aren’t leaving because they stopped loving the Hudson Valley – they just can’t afford to stay. Costs are climbing, opportunities are shrinking, and the dream of staying has become a nightmare.
I’ve sat with young people who can’t get ahead. With parents worried about what screens are doing to their kids, and small business owners squeezed from every direction. They’re not asking for partisan solutions. They’re asking for someone who shows up and listens.
I’m committed to making the Hudson Valley a place people can afford to stay, not just love from a distance. That means cutting red tape behind rising housing costs, treating mental health like an emergency, holding social media companies accountable for the harm they cause and bringing a different standard to Washington: less performance, more honesty, less outrage, more accountability.
The Hudson Valley deserves better. And I am willing to do the work, without the bitterness, but with all the resolve it takes to get the job done.
Jackie Auringer
Republican Candidate for Congress in NY-18