Why fight the establishment?
Someone recently asked me why I decided to run for office. For years I’ve been saying I’m going to run. So, why now? Why did I make the decision to run? What gave me the courage to follow my convictions?
The short answer is, I got tired of waiting for someone else to save us.
While still in high school I was trying to reconcile messages from all sides. In the late 90s my favorite high school ska band, The Half-Wits, sang about Ronald Reagan. They sarcastically sang, how he was greatest president ever.
At home my grandma Thelma told me he was, a great president. I was so confused. Was the band wrong or was grandma wrong?
Long story short…history has proven that wonderful woman was wrong. I just hope she was wrong because propaganda is a hell of a mind game and she’d been sucked in. Thirty years later, all the dirty tricks of his administration are surfacing and I’m not sure enough of us have really learned the lessons required to get us back on track.
Honestly, it seems to me many people learned the wrong lessons from what that administration did to our country.
In Iraq I came to the realization I was there, not for the benefit of the people of Iraq, we weren’t even there for the benefit of the people of our own country…We were there to make the rich, richer, at the cost of people’s lives.
It’s 2023. This is the world we get when we don’t want to deal with politics – when we vote in actors and billionaires because they are readily identifiable – and when we vote strictly for “our teams.”
We have to stop, look what we allowed to happen through our complacency, and decide we’ve had enough. No one is coming to save us.
So here I am Arizona. I want to make this country what I believed it was as I grew up. I was told we were the greatest, we were the most free, the richest, the best at everything…I want that to be true…it’s not…but it could be.
I am not saying it will be easy. Hard work and a lot of our time are needed to turn this country into one we’re proud. We deserve better. Our kids and grandkids deserve better.
I am asking for a chance. All I want is the opportunity to make our lives better and our children’s futures better. I want to expose the corruption in our government, uproot it, and return the power to the people.
Biography (short)
Born May 1981
Adopted around 8 months
Adopted mother passed 1992
Graduated 1999 from Hilltop High School
Joined the US Marines as a Private, Open Contract
2000 Was assigned MOS 2818, then quickly it became 2847, and finally 2862. Electronics Maintenance.
2002 Married my high school sweetheart
2003 My daughter was born
Multiple tours to Iraq putting a strain on my life, my marriage, my mind, my soul…caused a lot of introspection and opened my eyes to what war was really about
2007 I left the Corps with an honorable discharge as a Sergeant. Wife and I parted due to irreconcilable differences. Began college at Humboldt State University
2008 Moved to Tucson Arizona unexpectedly. Gained full custody of daughter
2009 Started and stopped Pima Community College multiple times. Son was born. Divorce was finalized.
2012 ~ Started getting the hang of being a single parent
2015 Began working for Desert Diamond Casino as a slot technician. Loved everything but the smoke and the pay.
2017 Married the most wonderful woman, took a tech job with “The Bike Shop” at Raytheon, and bought a house
2022 Became an Engineer at Raytheon
2023 Began Senate Run
Biography (long)
I, Andrew Becerra, was born in May of 1981 to parents who gave me up in a closed adoption. I was in the system in Orange County California for 8 months, before two amazing people shared their hearts and family with me. My new parents couldn't have children of their own, so me and my adopted sister were given all the love they could provide.
Robert, my father, was a member of The United Food and Commercial Workers Union. He was a staunch union supporter and instilled that in me. He'd always say things like, "Any company that has a union, deserves to have it." Back then he could see that companies who had unions protected their employees, and paid living wages, where companies without them might live up to that standard, or soon to have a union when they continue their poor business tactics.
I was 11 years old when I walked home from school to find my mother dead. Home wasn't home anymore. Being a single parent is one of the most difficult things anyone could ever do, and I know that for many reasons.
At 18, I joined the US Marine Corps and after some last minute paperwork I ended up joining as Open Contract. That's when you allow the Corps to place you where you're most useful and needed. With a 92 overall the Marine Corps decided they needed my mind more than they needed my body, and I became a Tech. What started with computers, printers, fax machines, and networks quickly expanded to include telephone switchboards, fiber optic cabling and radios.
In all those years what they taught me most was how to identify a problem, come up with ways to fix those problems, and implement them.
They stripped me of my individuality and instilled in me a need to lead and inspire others to work together to complete a goal. No one can accomplish alone as much as we can accomplish united.
I served faithfully for 8 years from September 1999 to September 2007. Multiple tours to Iraq broke me of several illusions as well as my health.
When I got back, I was a mess.
I couldn't enter buildings with more than a few people or anxiety brought on by my PTSD would hit me like a wall. My family fell apart and it would take me getting full custody of my daughter and the doctors at the VA Hospital here in Tucson to put me back together.
I went to college at Humboldt University, became a father for the second time, and ended up in Tucson Arizona in August of 2008. Shortly thereafter I became a single father, trying to work my way through college and work while raising my daughter full time and my son 50/50. Not nearly as hard as what my dad went through when my mom passed.
I ended up needing full time employment, and what skills did I have to fall back on? Thanks to the Marine Corps, I could fix anything.
I was lucky enough to be given a job at the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson working. I loved working for the Tohono O'odham people and I have an immense love and respect for our native brethren.
From there, using my background and technical knowledge I took a job with Raytheon Missile Defense as a Tech and more recently an Engineer.
Unlike others, I didn't join the Corps as some kind of check mark for a political career. I joined the Corps because that's what I thought Heroes did. My mother passing when I was so young...when she was so young, made me realize how short of a time we get here on this planet and I wanted to give my life to protect others. My drive to help the people has only gotten stronger over these 40+ years and it isn't going to stop.
All my life I have been told, "politicians are corrupt." and when I ask what we are going to do about it, I am told, "That's just the way it is. You can't change it."
I gave everyone 41 years to fix these problems without getting involved, and all we've done is make things worse. Well, just as I was taught, I can identify the issues, I have come up with several solutions, and now I am going to force action to be taken. No more corruption in politics, no more death for greed, and no more inequality for our people.