My name is Jeff Mayhugh. I am a father of five and a small business owner. My wife works in cyber security during the day and at a retirement home in the evening so we can afford 3 day a week daycare for our twins. When we sit down on our bed at the end of the night, we find ourselves discussing how to pay for our kids’ college or even if our kids should go to college. We discuss the education system, and we worry it doesn’t have our child’s interest at heart. We talk about the rising cost of living, and taxes. We talk about how we don’t have any say, any control. We feel powerless. We can’t change our jobs; we can’t move, and we can’t afford private school. And after years of working and saving for a better life, inflation walked in kicked us back five years. And at the end of the night before we go to bed, we talk about what we can do tomorrow to make it better. The only answer we can come up with is probably the same as a lot of Americans, work. So, we do.
That doesn’t sound like the American dream to me.
My name is Jeff Mayhugh and at 19, my best friend and I started a small business. We started in my parents’ basement, just the two of us, and by 2019 we had 15 employees. We built something. I learned how to build from my dad and grandfather. My dad started work on a family dairy farm in Nokesville as a teenager but became a mechanic after I was born so he could provide a better life for his family. Plus, my dad loves building things. He can make anything out of metal. He learned from my grandfather; he was a carpenter. He could make anything from wood. I remember the week he passed, he told me about how when building his house, him and family did a lot of the work so they could save money and afford to live there. He told me about how in between raising a young family he would lay tile to make ends meet, so the family could grow. My grandfather laid tile in my parent’s house to help them save money when they were raising a young family too. My grandfather and father taught me the American dream. If you build it, you can live it. That’s the American dream, to build.
In February 2020, almost 3 years after my grandfather passed, I moved into my family’s dream home. We built right next to my grandfather’s house. And when money was tight, my dad and I laid molding, built shoe cubbies, and added faux brink paneling to give our living just the look my wife wanted. I had achieved the American dream. I had built something, not just a house but a life. I built my business into a future for my family. And by March it felt everything changed. It was no longer about building for the future; it became about surviving today. Overnight schools were closed, and I didn’t know if my business would survive. No more building. It felt like we lost our power overnight.
What I achieved in February of 2020 is what most Americans want. To build and sustain a stable future for their family. It’s a wonderful feeling of power, to feel like you have control of your life, to feel like you have choices. My name Jeff Mayhugh and I’m running for congress because I want to help get our power back. I want to help us get control of our lives again. I want to help build a better foundation of government for my children to stand on.
If you would like to help me build, email me at volunteer@mayhughforva.com