Ady Barkan Is Dedicating His Last Years To ‘Save Our Democracy’
Ady Barkan is a progressive activist who recently released an advertisement endorsing Danny O’Connor, a Democrat running for Congress in Ohio’s 12th District, called “This dying father has a message for Ohio voters”, CNN reported.
Barkan’s PAC purchased $100,000 worth of airtime to broadcast it.
Barkan was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable neurodegenerative disease commonly known as ALS, in October 2016. But that has not stopped him from fighting the GOP’s 2017 tax bill or helping Democrats take back Congress.
“I was shocked when the Republicans in Congress proposed a tax bill that would take away my health care to fund tax cuts for billionaires,” he says in the ad. “Your family and my family are going to pay the price, so now I’m asking you to be a hero.”
Slowly, it is getting harder for Barkan to raise his right fist but he continues to do it more often because he wants “people to know that their future is in their hands and our democracy is what we make of it.”
Barkan is fighting for a future he won’t see but he says he is using the years he has left to fight for democracy and make the world a better place for his two year old son.
From his wheelchair in Minneapolis last month, Barkan addressed a crowd of hundreds: “I am willing to give my last breath to save our democracy,” he said. “And I’m here to ask you: What are you willing to give?”
Contact Aisha Tahir at tahir@forward.com or on Twitter, @aishatahir
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
