Chris Deluzio calls on Democrats to take on ‘oligarchs,’ ‘robber barons’ and ‘corporate jagoffs’

Congressman Chris Deluzio called on Democrats to restore the American Dream by taking on oligarchs and robber barons after touring Pennsylvania with US Sen. Bernie Sanders last week. He’s offering supporters a populist path forward for the party.  

Over the past few months, Pittsburgh area Congressman Chris Deluzio (D-Allegheny) has worked to forge relationships with Democrats across Pennsylvania and pushed them to offer a populist path forward for the party.

At 40 years old, Deluzio is one of the youngest Democrats to serve in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, and is coming off two events in Harrisburg and Bethlehem with US Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) as part of Sanders’ Fighting Oligarchy Tour, which attracted thousands of supporters at both stops. 

“I represent a tough congressional district. I won it twice in ‘22 and ‘24,” Deluzio said during his opening remarks in Bethlehem last Saturday. “The corporate bosses, the Republican bootlicker politicians, they spent millions trying to beat me. Millions. I didn’t have to behave and act like some corporate shill sellout to beat them. That is not our path back to power.”

He added: “ The Republicans ran these ads. They’d say, ‘oh, he is delusional.’ Republicans would call me some radical lefty. They call me congressman now.”

Weeks earlier, Deluzio was the only elected official from Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to visit Lancaster County and knock on doors before State Sen. James Malone’s (D-Lancaster) upset special election victory in a ruby red part of Pennsylvania.

“We have to be much more aggressive, and not just fighting against the other party,” Deluzio said at the time. “Fighting for our people against corruption to make the American dream something real again. I’m 40. So people my age and younger are the first generation since the Second World War that shouldn’t expect to be better off than their parents.”

Before getting elected to Congress in 2022, Deluzio served in the Navy as an Iraq War veteran and worked on voting rights issues and elections at Pitt Cyber and the Brennan Center for Justice. He also helped successfully organize a faculty union at the University of Pittsburgh, affiliating with the United Steelworkers.

During his time in Congress, Deluzio has introduced a number of bills seeking to regulate  rail safety following the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment outside of East Palestine, OH, which borders Deluzio’s district. 

He’s also advocated for workers’ rights by introducing the Stop Spying Bosses Act and the No Robot Bosses Act in 2024. Those bills would prevent employers from using surveillance technologies to track employees and curb discrimination from artificial intelligence during the hiring process. 

Throughout his speech in Bethlehem, Deluzio offered a new path forward for the Democratic Party, one that involves taking the side of workers over bosses and billionaires. 

“Whether you work in a factory, behind the wheel, behind a desk, in a hospital, all hard work has dignity in this country, and we ought to respect that,” Deluzio said. 

“We ought to make hard work pay off, but we gotta take on the villains. We know who they are. It doesn’t matter if you call them oligarchs, robber barons, or corporate jagoffs — I gotta bring a little Pittsburgh here — we know who they are. I know which damn side I’m on. Are you with me?”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Keystone (@keystonenewsroom)

Following the Bethlehem rally, Deluzio explained that the energy of the Democratic Party is not necessarily with the progressive wing, but with those who are fighting back against Trump and corporate oligarchs. 

“ I think the energy is the fighting part of our party, which I think can actually unite different factions of our party,” Deluzio said. 

“ We need to understand that fighting against oligarchy, fighting against corruption, fighting to restore the American dream is a path back to earning trust, frankly, for how we can fix the problems in this economy that existed for more than just Donald Trump’s years.”