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Ted Gumina is a candidate for the 11th Congressional District.

Don Carey/The Times Leader

SWOYERSVILLE – When deciding to run for Congress, Ted Gumina considered the knocks against him.

The 34-year-old Democrat has neither run for nor held political office. He has no campaign manager or staff, little money and needs 1,000 signatures to get on the ballot to challenge Wilkes-Barre attorney William Vinsko in the May primary for the seat in the 11th Congressional District.

But compared to what he and his family have been through, he’s confident those challenges can be met to unseat U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, in November.

Gumina announced his candidacy Thursday night at the dinner table of his Slocum Street home, while his wife Natalie and their 2-year-old daughter Violet and son Leo, 4, played in the basement.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that the only way that people of the middle class are going to have an opportunity to actually make an impact is if people from the middle class take action,” he said.

The family still struggles to recover from the economic crisis that put him among the unemployed for a while and it relies on food stamps to put meals on that table. Neither Gumina nor his wife has health care coverage, but their children are covered under the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“We’ve had to buckle down. We went from solid middle class to like low middle,” he said.

Gumina has returned to the work force, handling logistics for Blackstone Healthcare LLC in Wilkes-Barre and has been attending classes one night a week for four hours at Misericordia University to earn a degree in secondary education in history.

Knowing how hard it was to find work, Gumina said job creation is the main issue in the campaign.

“There has to be a discussion between us, the people providing the government, and corporate America,” he said.

“I am all for companies making money, but there comes a moral point where we need to stand and say, ‘OK, at what point is enough enough?’ ”

Acknowledging he sounds like one of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, Gumina said sometimes their message is a “little muddled.”

His, on the other hand, is clear.

He’s not looking to get elected just to get a better-paying job, federal health care or the perks that come with the office.

“I’m looking to run because I know I can do this job for the people,” he said. “I am one of them.”

About his campaign

Anyone interested in learning more about the candidate can contact him at [email protected].