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Dan Kleban of Cumberland is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maine and co-founder of Maine Beer Company.

Mainers are proud, hard-working people who don’t ask for handouts. We roll up our sleeves, bet on ourselves and look out for our neighbors when times get tough. That resilience is why I love this state.

But right now, even hard-working families are being pushed to the brink. The cost of living in Maine is simply too damn high. Skyrocketing housing costs, soaring electricity bills and unpredictable tariffs are driving up the cost of everything from groceries to a simple beer at the end of a hard week.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Mainers are doing their part, but Washington isn’t doing theirs. Our political class is disconnected from kitchen-table realities. It’s focused on protecting its own power and catering to big donors and corporate lobbyists.

I am not a career politician. I’m a husband and a dad raising twin teenagers in Cumberland alongside my wife Beth, a nurse.

When I was in sixth grade, my parents split, and I lived with my mom, a social worker. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease. I watched her go through years of tortuous treatments, dialysis and surgeries, hoping they would all buy us more time. Her mobility was severely limited, and I was often the one taking care of her. When she passed, I was 15 and my brother and sister-in-law moved home so I could finish high school, and when I was 21 we moved to Maine for a fresh start.

I spent most of my time after high school working hourly jobs to make ends meet, parking cars, painting houses, building cabinetry, often with less than $100 left in my bank account and no health insurance to fall back on. Shortly after moving to Maine, my brother and I started a small furniture finishing shop in the mills in Biddeford. With Beth’s help, I put myself through the University of Southern Maine and Boston College Law School, graduating over $200,000 in debt.

Then came the second scariest time of my life. I lost my job at a law firm in the 2008 financial crisis, staring down a mortgage, student debt and no income. Beth and I were left wondering how we’d ever afford to start a family. With no one hiring, my brother and I decided to bet on ourselves. We went for broke and Beth and I cashed in her entire 401(k) of $30,000. The idea for Maine Beer Company was born in my garage.

We built it on a simple motto, “Do What’s Right,” meaning a living wage from day one, full employee healthcare and donating 1% of our annual sales directly to environmental nonprofits. Because of that idea (and good beer), over 100 hard-working Mainers have real peace of mind today, including health insurance and retirement savings.

I’m running for the U.S. Senate because Washington has forgotten how to do what’s right for the people who make this country run. This election is about people who’ve been left behind. We need leaders who help build an economy that works for everyone, and Susan Collins has proven she is not up for the job.

Let’s look at her record. Over nearly 30 years in office, Susan Collins stopped looking out for us. She voted with Donald Trump to strip women of their right to make their own healthcare choices. She rubber-stamped his big, ugly bill, handing tax breaks to the wealthy while Mainers drowned in rising costs. She refuses to stand up to Trump when it matters.

We need a leader who will stand up to Trump and to career politicians in both parties, someone focused on basics like expanding housing supply so workers can live where the jobs are, supporting the trades, cutting red tape for small businesses and a clean energy transition that lowers electricity bills. We can’t expect a culture shift if we keep sending the same people back.

True change means challenging power on both sides of the aisle. For Democrats, that starts at the top. If elected, I will not vote for Chuck Schumer to continue leading the Senate Democratic caucus. We don’t need leaders managing the status quo. We need a senator whose only question every morning is what’s right for Maine.

I’ll bring an outsider’s perspective, a job creator’s experience and a working-class backbone to Washington, so Collins never again gets the chance to rubber-stamp a corporate agenda. I hope to earn your support as the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate.