Working as an Amazon delivery driver, I felt a need. And I’m not just talking about the need in my bladder. (They really didn’t let us take bathroom breaks. It’s true.) I’m talking about the need in my soul. The need to fight for a fairer world. A world that works for marginalized communities like ours, not just the powerful.

My name is Enrique Sanchez, I’m your State Representative, and I’m running for re-election to keep fighting the wealthy and powerful interests that hurt the people of Providence. This is my story and why I’m fighting for you.

It wasn’t easy for my mother. As a single mom raising three children on food stamps, she didn’t have a lot of time, but she always made it a priority to teach us to fight for a fairer world. She taught us to see how the rich and powerful hurt us to benefit themselves, and she taught us to fight back. In high school, when I worked on a chicken farm to support our family, she taught us about Dolores Huerta, César Chávez, and the history of immigrant farm workers organizing to make conditions less brutal. When an ICE raid deported many of our neighbors, she brought us to the protests and taught us how to organize against cruelty.

She also taught us what happens when the rich and powerful win. When we nearly lost our house, she explained how the banks who caused the 2008 financial crisis got bailed out. And how nothing meaningful happened to stop them from making huge profits on mortgages that make housing even harder to afford. This year, as your State Representative, you’d better believe I voted against cutting the banks’ taxes. Our government should be easing the suffering of struggling families, not giving even more breaks to the wealthiest and most powerful interests.

Whenever rich people and corporations demand tax cuts, I think about what public services did for us and what it would mean if they were taken away. I think about the food stamps that helped my mom feed us. I think about the public schools that gave me an education–from kindergarten all the way to Rhode Island College. 

In our public schools, what I see breaks my heart. Under the state takeover of our schools, they haven’t been able to fill classrooms with certified teachers. I wanted to help the young people of our city, and I knew I could teach my native language, Spanish, so I became a long-term sub. I had students who had to work through high school to help pay bills, students worried about losing their homes, and students dealing with how society still treats people of color like me. 

I saw families struggling to afford food, healthcare, and housing. I saw neighborhoods without basic services like decent roads, safe sidewalks, and trash cleanup. I saw racism, sexism, and hatred against our immigrant and LGBTQ+ neighbors. I ran for State Representative to fight for all the marginalized people of Providence. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to unseat a thirty-year incumbent, but we needed someone who would fight for justice instead of tax cuts for the rich.

After I won, the real work began. Before I had even been sworn in, the House Speaker announced his opposition to proposed increases in education funding. I disagreed. I knew our schools needed these investments. When I wrote an op-ed calling for him to change course, I was repeatedly told that I should never publicly disagree. They said that’s not how I was “supposed to” represent our community. That’s exactly how I knew it was working. Working with other legislators and activists, we won that fight. The Speaker became a supporter of education funding, we passed the increases, and when the Governor proposed cuts, we defeated them.

I came to our public schools to teach Spanish, and I loved it. But I was deeply concerned about how the toxic takeover was negatively impacting our students and teachers, so I spoke up. I protested the closure of schools in poor neighborhoods at the State House, in front of the board that controls the takeover, and at community rallies. I soon found myself reassigned to teach English instead. I didn’t want to be in a workplace where I couldn’t fight for our community against the rich and powerful.

We’ve won a lot in my first term. We turned around years of Medicaid cuts with increases for hospital care, social work, dentistry, mental health, services for vulnerable children, and many other parts of our broken healthcare system. We saved RIPTA from brutal cuts, and we passed huge increases in funding for affordable housing. The lobbyists aren’t happy, which means we’re on the right track.

But there’s so much more work to do. Wherever I go, I give out my number (753-8114) so you can call me. My phone has been ringing nonstop for the past two years. One of the most important parts of being a State Representative is helping neighbors in need. All around us are families wrongfully kicked off Medicaid, families facing homelessness, and families who just want to reach a live human being in our government.  These stories remind me of where I came from. They break my heart, but they also motivate me to fight harder for all of us against the rich and powerful.

The struggles I hear shape what I fight for. Because high property taxes are forcing out families, I opposed the Mayor’s tax increases and voted against the bill to make them permanent. Because Peter Alviti, the RIDOT director, failed to address the bridge crisis, I called for him to go. Because rising car insurance prices hurt us, I introduced legislation to ban them from discriminating against neighborhoods like ours. I didn’t care what the lobbyists said.

I will always stand up to the rich and powerful. I’m running for reelection to keep fighting for the people, not the lobbyists. To keep fighting against subsidies for luxury developers–no matter how many donations they give other politicians. To keep fighting the health insurance companies–no matter how much they spend on lobbyists. To keep fighting for fair wages–no matter how much corporate PACs spend. To keep fighting for our LGBTQ+ neighbors–no matter how many operatives Republicans pay to fuel hatred in RI. To keep fighting for affordable housing and lower rents–no matter how much the developers spend to stop me.

As your State Representative for District 9, I will always fight for you. If you have any questions, please reach out to me at (401) 753-8114 or sanchezforstaterep9@gmail.com. I hope to earn your vote in the Democratic primary on September 10th so I can keep fighting for the working people of Providence against the rich and powerful.