When I think about my father, Eddie Graham Jr., I remember a fighter. He was a brilliant Black
man who grew up in St. Pete during the height of the war on drugs, struggling with addiction and
mental illness in a system that was never designed to support him.

There were times when things started to look up. He’d find a job, get a roof over his head, and
begin to rebuild. But the cost of living kept rising, his wages stayed low, and his mental health
deteriorated under the pressure to keep up. Again and again, he fell through the cracks despite
his best efforts. We tried to help. He asked for help. But the support he needed just wasn’t there.
Last year, we lost him after a long battle with mental health and addiction.

I’ve spent most of my adult life working with nonprofits here in the Tampa Bay Area, helping
organizations secure the funding and attention they need to support people like my father. But
after losing him, I realized it just wasn’t enough. We can’t keep trying to patch a system that’s
fundamentally broken. That’s why I’m running for office.

Because the truth is, this system isn’t working for everyday people — not for families in Child’s
Park, not for those in Lake Maggiore, not in South Hillsborough, and not for anyone who is
working class and trying to thrive in this state. Wages aren’t keeping up, housing is
unaffordable, our public schools are being sabotaged, and access to mental health care is still
out of reach for too many.

We don’t need small tweaks around the edges or more of the same. It’s too late for that. We
need bold, practical action that reflects the urgency of this moment and transforms the lived
reality of the people in our state.

Here’s what that could look like:

1 – Build more affordable housing. The housing crisis is one of the biggest issues facing
Tampa Bay. We need serious state and local investments, streamlined permitting, and a
commitment to putting more affordable homes on the market.

2 – Expand Medicaid. More than 800,000 Floridians, including many in our own
neighborhoods, are shut out of life-saving mental and physical health care. It’s past time
to change that.

3 – Raise wages by rewarding good employers. Instead of handing tax breaks to
corporations with no accountability, let’s create a “Good Jobs” tax incentive that rewards
businesses that raise wages and invest in their employees.

4 – Reimagine public education. I believe in our public schools, but we need to face reality.
Right now, we have a grading system that gives schools and districts “A” ratings, even
as students graduate unprepared for life after high school. We need fewer high-stakes
tests, a better accountability model, and greater investment in support systems such as
counselors, reading specialists, and career pathways that actually help kids succeed.

These aren’t just ideas. They come from years of working with service providers and listening to people across St. Pete and the Tampa Bay Area, sitting with their stories, and walking alongside them as they try to navigate systems that too often fail them just like it failed my father. His story is the reason I’m doing this. Not just out of grief, but out of a deep belief that we have to do better.

I know how many families are still one crisis away from a similar loss. We don’t have time to wait. Our community deserves leadership that is rooted in lived experience, focused on results, and committed to the dignity and well-being of every person in this community.

I’m running because my son, and families in St. Petersburg and across our state, deserve a
system that saves lives, and I’m ready to fight for it.