“Wake Up the Neighbors.“

I am not running for Congress because I always dreamed of holding office. I’m running because the fire is already burning and someone has to call it out. Someone has to wake up the neighbors.

From the age of five until I was twelve, I lived in a house where violence was not an isolated incident it was the atmosphere. My childhood was broken glass and shouted threats. My job, as a child, was to stop the fights when I could. And when I failed, I ran. Barefoot. In snow. On pavement. Through the night. Until I could find a phone. Until I could find help. Until I could wake up the damn neighbors.

That instinct never left me. When people are hurting, I move. When systems fail, I step in. When leadership is absent, I lead. And when those in power have the ability to act but fail to do so; I will. Because I have lived through the wreckage of neglect, indifference, and policy failure. I’ve carried burdens that no child should bear and I’ve turned that pain into purpose.

I joined the Air Force at 19. I served under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” deployed in wartime, and led airmen through crises both in combat and at home. I learned systems. I learned leadership. I learned what it means to carry out the mission, even when it’s hard. Even when it hurts. Most importantly I learned that Integrity not only matters when no one is looking but the truest test, can you still act when all eyes of scrutiny are on you? That’s true integrity-bound leadership.

When my service in uniform ended, I didn’t stop serving. I turned to law. I became an advocate for veterans, for survivors, for the Constitution itself. I’ve defended Missouri in court, fought against civil rights violations, and worked to hold government accountable to the people it claims to serve. And when I took my oath, it was never for any man or woman but instead for a set of ideas codified into a sacred document that millions have fought and died for and billions more dream for today.

But I’ve also seen what happens when our leaders stop doing the job.

I’ve seen politicians deliver slogans instead of solutions. I’ve seen corporate interests write our laws. I’ve seen working families priced out of their homes, buried under student debt, and told that rising grocery prices, gas costs, and rent hikes are just “the cost of living.” I’ve seen veterans denied care. Teachers underpaid. Mothers skipping meals so their children can eat.

I have lived this. I have fought through this. And now I’m running because we deserve more than survival—we deserve transformation.

I am fighting for the America I swore an oath to defend. For a government that works for the people who built it—not for billionaires who exploit it. For a politics grounded not in profit, but in principle.

This campaign is about delivering real, tangible solutions:

• Lowering the cost of living—so no family has to choose between rent and food.
• Rebuilding the middle class—because dignity should be affordable.
• Restoring accountability—so government works for the people again.

I am fighting for the student drowning in debt. For the child in a violent home. For the veteran facing addiction. For the mother rationing insulin. For the father priced out of his neighborhood. For the forgotten, the overlooked, the underestimated.

Because I’ve been all of them.

“Wake up the neighbors” is not a slogan. It’s my life. It’s a call to courage, to service, and to action. It means standing up when others stay silent. It means knowing that injustice doesn’t fix itself—people do.

So this is your wake-up call.

This is not just a campaign. It is a movement. It is a fire carried forward by the people who know what it means to be burned and still choose to rise. I’m not asking for your vote out of tradition—I’m asking because I believe the people are ready to reclaim their power. I’m not here to play politics. I’m here to get to work.

Let’s wake the neighbors.

Jordan J. Herrera, Esq.

Candidate for U.S. Congress

Missouri’s 5th Congressional District