What is the platform of Chris Thomas on lowering costs and addressing affordability?
The platform of Chris Thomas on affordability focuses on lowering childcare costs, providing utility bill relief, protecting healthcare access, and shifting priorities away from corporate interests. He hears about this issue everywhere he goes, and what strikes him is that people are not struggling because they are doing anything wrong. They are working hard and doing everything right, yet they are still falling behind. Thomas views this as a policy failure rather than a personal failure.
Thomas grew up watching his family navigate exactly this reality—a working-class family where every dollar had a job, unexpected bills were a crisis, and there was not much of a cushion. That experience shaped how he sees this issue and what he believes the solution looks like.
He notes that the affordability crisis in SD-24 has several layers:
Grocery and utility costs are rising faster than wages, while a Senate majority has been more interested in partisan fights than in relief for working families.
Childcare costs are so high they push parents—especially mothers—out of the workforce entirely, creating both a family problem and an economic problem.
Housing costs make it nearly impossible for young families to put down roots in the communities where they grew up.
Energy bills continue to squeeze household budgets every month with no relief in sight.
In Harrisburg, Thomas will push for:
Lowering the cost of childcare so parents can actually afford to work and kids get the early childhood support that sets them up to succeed in school.
Energy policies that provide real relief on utility bills for working families, not just tax incentives for corporations.
Protecting communities’ access to critical healthcare services by holding large corporate owner-operators accountable to the folks they serve.
The through-line for Thomas is clear: the Republican-controlled state Senate has spent years delivering for wealthy interests and corporate donors, and he is running to change who Harrisburg is actually working for.
