Juan Rey for Congress
on Tuesday, June 2, 2026

I have worked as a train mechanic at L.A. Metro for 23 years and served as an elected union steward for nine years.

I am running for U.S. Congress to say that the working population does all the work. We make society run.

So, working people can build our own party, a party that is independent of the two big parties, owned and controlled by the billionaires and the super-rich — lock, stock and barrel.

Elections cannot change things, not in a society where big business and the wealthy control all the levers of power. But elections can be used to express working peoples’ anger and our desire to organize for the benefit of our own class.

The working class, simply to defend itself, will have to organize itself to fight. To do that, the working class will need all its forces: black and white; immigrant and native born; women and men.

Both parties of the ruling class are dragging us into another world war. Today, the U.S. superpower is behind wars against Iran, Gaza, Venezuela, Cuba, Ukraine and Lebanon. The U.S. is also preparing for new wars against China and Russia.

These wars are being fought to impose the domination of the U.S. ruling class over the entire world.

These are not our wars!

The politicians are ramming through the biggest military budget increase since World War II. The U.S. already spends more on the military than the next 10 biggest countries combined.

We need millions more teachers, educators and health care providers. We need millions more workers to build more homes, schools and parks. We need prospects and dreams for the youth.

We face a jobs crisis. Millions don’t have jobs. At the same time, millions more are forced to work tons of overtime or take second or third jobs.

We face an Affordability Crisis. Tens of millions of workers can’t afford the basics, including for food, housing, health care, transportation and education. Younger workers can’t afford the rent. Older workers can’t afford to retire.

The wars have set off a new spiral of price increases, starting at the gas pump, as oil companies take advantage of horrific wars in order to jack up prices and profits.

We are constantly told there is not enough money to meet our basic needs. That is a lie. There is plenty of money.

Corporate profits and stock market prices have hit record highs. There are more billionaires than ever. They accumulate all that wealth by robbing the working population at home and abroad.

Our needs should come first!

No one should be homeless. Decent housing should be a basic human right. This region lacks millions of affordable housing units. They should be built immediately. This will create jobs.

No profitable company should be allowed to cut a single job. We can share out the work so everyone can have a job. Set wages high enough to get rid of poverty and guarantee that everyone has a decent standard of living. When prices go up, our wages should go up just as fast.

The U.S. government has been sending invading forces of armed thugs into the cities. They are grabbing immigrants off the streets, out of their cars, workplaces, restaurants, schools and homes. This is nothing but an attack against all workers, immigrant and non-immigrant alike.

Trump and the bosses he represents know they are making things worse for all working people. They want us divided, intimidated and afraid.

The protests of the people of Minneapolis showed that something else is possible. Protests against these attacks echoed across the country. People started to come together, to plan, to build.

What starts with protests against ICE can expand into something greater. The working class itself can start to direct a fight, to defend its own interests as a united force, native-born and immigrant. Out of these fights, working people can gain the understanding that the only solution is to address the root cause itself: the control of big business and the wealthy and the system that puts profit above all else.