Mark Johnson (Pennsylvania)

I'm seeking no endorsements and I'm taking zero dollars. I'm also not PAYING money for endorsements (yes, that's a thing).

As an attorney with experience in the U.S. House of Representatives, I have the skills and knowledge to be prepared for the tricks and overwhelming pressures of lobbying organizations.

I'm an Eagle Scout and a trustworthy honest person, who wants to do what's best for ALL Pennsylvanians, not just those of use with enough clout to get legislative attention.

• We have to stop preventable deaths. Access to health care needs to be an inherent part of being a citizen in this country.
• Environmental changes need to be made and made now. We need to make renewable energy accessible and affordable while ending the environmental injustice that is the poorest of us living with the most health concerns.
• Politics is broken and we need to change the way money flows. We need to end Gerrymandering and make the political system FAIR and REPRESENTATIVE of what citizens actually want.

I personally believe we are in exciting and important times. As we move forward we are going to be defining how we act and perceive on big issues going forward. We can do nothing, like we have for the last 30 years about climate change and doom our species to extinction, or we can take action. We can recognize that a government, at it's very least, should keep its citizens alive, or we can allow an entire class of people to perish as w have for generations. We can embrace science, or we can hide in caves. We can embrace our neighbors or we can become hateful xenophobes. The choice is ours and it is now.

Honesty and Integrity.

When you run for office or hold one, people tell you what they think. Some agree with you, some don't. And it's sooooo easy to fall into the trap of telling people what they want to hear, or hiding the truth of what you really think from them so you don't upset or anger them. But that's not the job. Doing that is misleading, misrepresenting, dishonest. You've got to be straight with people, you've got to be honest. That's the only way this system actually works.

I'm free. I don't owe anyone anything. No money, no promises, no commitments that compromise me from minute one.

Sure, my campaign is small as a result. I don't have a lot of money for ads or signs, but I'm trusting that won't matter. That voters are smarter than bumper stickers, slogans and logos. By reading this far, you've proved I'm right. Thanks for being you!

McDonalds. Paid $4.75 an hour. I was 15 and I have scars on my writs and hands to show for my time on the grill.

But the good news at least they yelled us a lot and charged us for food on break.

I'll never forget this experience, because of the people I met. When I was young this was just some 'part time job' to pay for gas. So I didn't notice or mind that I was exploited in a crappy job because I was a kid. There were people there though, that lived off that job. Older ladies, such nice women that I considered my friend, who paid for their grand childrens clothes and presents with that money, who had to pay for housing and make their own security. It's not right that we pretend some jobs can pay poorly because they are 'summer jobs' or 'jobs for kids', while the company makes millions of dollars. Jobs need to be livable jobs.

The Hobbit, or "There and Back Again" for those that read the original manuscript :)

Sure, people like the Lord of the Rings, I do too. But the Hobbit had the line "Well, then go and burgal!" Plus the barrel ride. It's the story of one little man, surrounded by a horde of heroes, and yet the one little man accomplishes so much, because he pushes himself, because he tries.

Most congresses get very little done, due to the partisan divide and the way that bill passage works. It is easier to stop a bill from passing than it is to pass your own, and as a result of that we live in a world where we are behind on so many things. Having things not change is in the best interest of the rich, because the system is already rigged for them.

Pennsylvania has this problem in particular because our legislative chambers are divided between rural conservative republicans and urban democrats, and their are a lot of very conflicting values and ideologies.

Our biggest challenge going forward, will be getting anything meaningful done.

Yes. During my time in the U.S. House of Representatives I saw the enormity of some the tasks being undertaken. Staff members of different offices working together brings additional resources to the table. Additionally, different areas experience things differently and getting a myriad of perspectives allows us to build legislation that takes into account all people. Lastly, the reality is, bills need votes and working together is a way to empower and educate each other so that we are working together.

It was the mothers. So many mothers came into Congress to testify at a committee hearing. They came to talk about their sons, who were in jail. How the neighborhood, the gangs, the drugs game had caught them up and now they were gone. The thing is though, these were small drug offenses, boys arrested as teenagers were jail into their 40s. 25 years minimum sentencing for crack while traditionally more white users of cocaine were given much, much lighter sentences, free to return to their lives and prosper. Seeing the damage it had done to so many families was... well you asked.