Shane Lewis, Candidate for Congress, 18th District.

I was born and raised in a small town on the Florida Panhandle. It was so tiny you could drive through it on one breath. My parents are still married, still strong. I grew up with two younger brothers and an older sister. We attended a United Methodist church where on Easter Sunday we were lucky to see 100 people in the pews. I am a Christian, a father, son, and husband, and I am grateful every day that Jesus Christ has never given up on a stubborn jarhead like me.

My wife and I have called San Jose home for nearly thirty years. She was born in Guatemala; I arrived in California from MCAS Cherry Point, NC in late 1995 after serving five years active-duty in the United States Marine Corps. We have four children — two boys, two girls. One son serves in the Air Force, one daughter is happily married out of state, another son is finding his way in the working world, and our youngest is still in middle school. My wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last year. In the Corps I was an intermediate-level aviation technician for the AV-8B Harrier II. I earned meritorious promotions twice and my blood wings at Fort Benning. When I left active duty service, California became my permanent “ duty station ”. My military troubleshooting skills opened doors in Silicon Valley. I started at Philips working on the early WebTV project. I moved to a defense contractor company performing failure analysis on heads-up, heads-down, and helmet-mounted displays for the F-15, F-18, F-22, and F-35 for nearly 11-years. Development of root-cause failure analysis skills led me into the medical device field, helping develop, design, and modify electronics associated with heart pumps and robotic surgery systems at Thoratec , St. Jude Medical, Abbott, and Procept BioRobotics.

Everything changed on a Sunday morning on 2016 when Hillary Clinton told Fox News that the Second Amendment , “ like all rights ,” was subject to “ reasonable regulation .” That simply did not sit well with me. I was taught that our Bill or Rights are our unalienable Rights in a civil society. As such the Bill of Rights are recognized as pre-existing and beyond government ’ s legitimate reach.

I took Hillsdale College ’ s Constitution 101 course — my first real exposure to the Federalist Papers. I was stunned by their clarity and bought and read the entire collection. Then I read the Anti-Federalist papers to hear the other side. Next came Locke , Montesquieu, Blackstone, the Magna Carta, and biographies of Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Washington and more! Finally, I went back to school, earning a B.S. in Political Science from Liberty University and now finishing (slowly, painfully) a master ’ s thesis in the same field.

All of the research kept bringing me to one simple truth and purpose in the Preamble: secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

The first five before it in the Preamble are necessary conditions; the sixth is the entire point. Only when justice is established is domestic tranquility insured, this promotes a strong in-kind and common defense leading to the promotion of the general welfare of the people. Only then can the blessings of liberty be secured. Those blessings are not government checks or government programs. They are the freedom of every American — native-born and naturalized citizen alike — to use their time, talent, treasure, and labor to bless themselves, their families, their neighbors, and their communities. That is the American compact, and it has been violated. James Madison feared most that a well-organized minority would capture the powers of government and oppress the majority. That is exactly what has happened. Career politicians, bureaucrats, and connected insiders have turned the government into an instrument of private gain and social control. The intentional collapse of our southern border is the clearest example. It is not incompetence; it is by design. Open borders are used by a political machine that only values raw political power. Consequentially, Americans lose wages, safety, and security, and immigrants — especially women and children — are trafficked, exploited, and discarded. We are witnessing the deliberate recreation of a permanent underclass in the United States of America, two centuries after we fought a war to end slavery and abolish it.

I am running because I am tired of watching good people fight over the last scraps on the table while the powerful feast. I am running because the answer is not to give people more “ stuff ” from Washington; it is to restore the conditions under which every person can earn, keep, and direct the fruits of their labor toward the people and causes they love. We need to start with four big reforms, each aimed at restoring the original compact:

• Legal Immigration reform that encourages and incentivizes migration through legitimate means.

• Tax reform that eliminates taxes on wages and salaries to return your authority over government.

• Education reform that promotes individual economic independence and freedom as well as sound civic literacy.

• Census, Apportionment, and redistricting reform that reflects proper representation that will forever prevent the establishment of a permanent and disadvantaged underclass.

These are not partisan ideas; they are American ideas. They are the ideas that turned a continent of wilderness into the freest, most prosperous nation history has ever seen. Congresswoman Lofgren, and no Democrat for that matter, is capable of promoting foundational and lifechanging objects such as these.

From 2024 to 2025 Mrs. Lofgren voted 16 times against protecting American Citizens and immigrants alike through meaningful immigration reform. Congresswoman Lofgren, as with many Congressmembers, will never support radical tax reform that puts our country back on track to prevent head-to-head competition between American citizens and businesses. Lastly, Congresswoman Lofgren is incapable of supporting meaningful Census reform that insures we ’ re not promoting and institutionalizing a permanent underclass, a slave class, in America through illegal immigration. Liberty is not dead in America. She is wounded, but her spirit is strong. If we put the right people in office — people who remember that all power is on loan from the citizens — we can bind her wounds and hand our children a nation that is stronger and freer than the one our parents handed to us. A Nation that secures the blessings of liberty for American Citizens, Visa Holders, and immigrants alike, will not be possible until we stop fighting over scraps and reclaim our rightful position as the authority over our government. That is why I am running for Congress in California District 18.

I would be honored to have your vote, your prayers, and your help.

Semper Fi, Shane Lewis

shanelewisforcongress.com