![\"Andres](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/REG-L-AndresSantiago-01.jpg\")
Andres Santiago<\/p>\nWith housing prices climbing and energy bills increasing, Andres Santiago said sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that if I wanted things to happen I had to take action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination to represent the 5th Legislative District in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n
The House district stretches across western Berks County, encompassing 20 municipalities in their entirety and part of Spring Township. He will face Republican incumbent Rep. Eric Weaknecht in the general election.<\/p>\n
Santiago said he has always taken an interest in national and state politics. He researches issues that are important to him, he reads about what legislators are doing in Washington and Harrisburg to address those issues, and he feels more can be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could help pass legislation that could improve our community, I would be happy knowing I was part of the change rather than just waiting for something to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I realized no one was planning on running against the incumbent, I saw this as my chance to get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andres Santiago<\/p>\n
Santiago said running for office has been a learning process.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeeting with voters and listening to their concerns has motivated me even more to take action because people are struggling right now with the high cost of living,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Santiago said he has some proposals about how to address the affordability crisis.<\/p>\n
The first is dealing with rising energy bills. He said excessive rate increases set by utility companies should be more heavily scrutinized by the state Public Utility Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to know why the rates are increasing at such a fast pace and there should be more oversight of how their money is being spent by these companies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The second most pressing issue, Santiago said, is increasing health care costs. He vowed to be an advocate for the state to provide extra financial assistance for those enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans to help offset the loss of enhanced federal subsidies that expired at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
His final proposal would tackle housing costs. Santiago said he would support legislation that would limit increases on some rental properties and those living in manufactured home communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think these proposals could make a difference,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is more that can be done to bring down the cost of living but these are just a few.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meet the candidate<\/p>\n
Candidate: Andres Santiago, 30, Spring Township.<\/p>\n
Position sought: State representative for the 5th District, which stretches across western Berks County encompassing 20 municipalities in their entirety and part of Spring Township.<\/p>\n
Current salary for position: $113,591.<\/p>\n
Background: Santiago is a customer service representative for AAA. He has previously worked as a mechanic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With housing prices climbing and energy bills increasing, Andres Santiago said sitting on the sidelines is no longer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,836,3612,182,883,139,28,50,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-184571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-election","tag-election-2026","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-politics","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}