Popular YouTuber Joseph Saladino, better known as Joey Salads, has launched a campaign for Congress as a Republican in New York’s 11th District.
The Staten Island native lists slowing economic opportunity for the area’s youth, ever increasing taxes, and the growing opioid addiction crisis as some of the top issues he will be addressing with his campaign. He is well-known for his comedic videos running pranks on unsuspecting strangers — they are generally not overtly political in nature.
It appears that Saladino is the first prominent YouTuber to run for office in the United States.
“I have been very fortunate to have found success as a social media content creator advocating for American values, and I want to give a voice to the people of my home in Congress and at the national level. I want to elevate the district’s issues to national attention,” Saladino said.
https://twitter.com/JoeySalads/status/1123396944183922688
According to a press release from his campaign, Saladino is “here to fight for working class issues, and he will be able to carry the District’s voice into Congress by unseating Max Rose.”
“Max Rose promised much and delivered little in his time in Congress other than to support the Congressional Democrats’ radical agenda of disenfranchisement of the working and middle classes who are the backbone of our community. Combined with his unwillingness to address the bigotry in his party by some of its members, New York’s 11th Congressional District needs new leadership,” the press release says.
Saladino has nearly 2.5 million followers on YouTube and Facebook, as well as 82,000 on Twitter. According to a statement from his campaign, his work gets over one billion views on social media per year.
“My main goal is to give the forgotten borough, Staten Island, a voice. It is the only red district in all of New York City,” Saladino told The Gateway Pundit. “I want to fight against the opiod crisis that has plagued our city — mainly by giving our youth a sense of purpose by deregulation to promote small business and entrepreneurship.”
