Out Lawmaker Brian Sims Announces Run for Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania: WATCH

Out Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims announced on Monday that he is running for lieutenant governor. Sims made the announcement in the wake of Lt. Governor John Fetterman’s announcement last week that he would be running for the U.S Senate.

Wrote Sims in a letter to supporters: “For the past 10 years, I’ve served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, fighting for equity and against discrimination, to keep my promises to my communities, to Philadelphians, and to Pennsylvanians. But this last cycle, everything changed. The attacks on governance, on equality, and on the communities that I’m a part of, and those that I defend as an ally, ramped up to epic proportions. I put myself between those who were doing harm and those being harmed, and I hope I also inspired others to step up.”

“After 10 years in the State House, I am a different legislator — I’ve taken the lessons that my parents, retired Army Colonels, taught me: to take responsibility and commit to service, to push for fairness and courage, and I’ve reinforced them in my work as a legislator,” said Sims. “And now I’m ready to take those values from representing our state’s largest city to leading the Commonwealth and the 13 million people in Pennsylvania.”

“I’m sick of our state Democratic politics being pushed toward the middle to appease the gerrymandered Republican districts,” Sims added. “No more. We are the antidote to broken politics. My time in the legislature has taught me so much about how our state government works and confirmed how much it doesn’t work for too many people. These last 4 years have demanded a lot from a lot of us, and I’ve proven I won’t back down from challenges because there are Pennsylvanians who are worth struggling for. I want to bring visionary leadership based on lived experience and shared values to the office of Lieutenant Governor.”

Watch Sims’ campaign launch video: