Pablo Iván McConnie-Saad, OC ’10, is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Philadelphia. After graduating from Oberlin as a Hispanic Studies major, McConnie-Saad earned his master’s degree in public administration and doctorate of philosophy from the University of Delaware. McConnie-Saad’s experience includes working as a policy advisor with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he advised former President Joe Biden on the Inflation Reduction Act.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Were politics a big part of your Oberlin experience? 

It was definitely something I was really engaged in at Oberlin. Oberlin gave me a lot of opportunities to be involved in politics, and I was there when Obama was first elected. Oberlin is a breeding ground for activism, mobilization, and organizing.

Tell me more about who you were before you came to Oberlin. What were your ideals back then and how have they changed, if at all? 

As you can see from my name, Pablo McConnie-Saad, I’m Puerto Rican, and it shows you that Puerto Ricans are very diverse. I grew up in South Philadelphia in a low-income but high-cultural capital family. We had to move around a lot because my parents were discriminated against and couldn’t get a mortgage. My brothers and I were lucky to get scholarships to go to good schools, and for me that included Oberlin, a school that would really help me grow and feel a sense of belonging while expanding my horizons at the same time.

What was your experience like at Oberlin as a low-income student?

It’s one of those things that’s always on the back of my mind. I was able to find a group of people that were like-minded and so, though many of my friends at Oberlin were more affluent than my family, I never felt like I was lacking in any way. I was always included and never felt like there was an activity that my financial background precluded me from participating in.

I was a federal work-study student, so I always worked while I was at Oberlin. And that was cool because I met new people and met other people like me. But Oberlin never felt like it was holding back on certain jobs and opportunities because I was a federal work-study student, which may happen at other higher education institutions.

Could you talk about your research as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellow?

At that time, I was really interested in what was happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I was interested in understanding how such a mineral-rich country could also be the poorest country in the world, which it was at that time. And I wanted to understand how U.S. government action informed how, post-Cold War, we essentially let the Congo become a failed state — although it was set up to fail prior to that. I was given the opportunity through the Mellon Foundation to study the conflict in the Congo. It really speaks to a lot of the issues that we deal with in the U.S. in both cities and rural America. It’s about despair and lack of opportunity and how a system is rigged against working people in a certain sense.

How do you balance trying to become a figure in the government while simultaneously fighting against a system that you say is rigged against the working class?

It’s challenging. Take for example the issue of affordable healthcare. This issue was being discussed more than 15 years ago. It hasn’t changed; it’s gotten worse. For most of the provisions of Obamacare, the government shutdown was kind of the last straw. And so we’re at this moment of feeling like something has to change. 

I hold dearly a lot of the values that I picked up on at Oberlin. Oberlin was very important during the Underground Railroad, and Obies were kind of fighting the system from within the system. Of course, at the time of Oberlin’s founding, we were barreling towards a serious civil crisis. Things feel very bad now, and that’s why I’m stepping up and trying to be a voice of change and reason at a time when both seem to be disappearing.

What are some things that you’ve taken with you from Oberlin that you’ve been able to implement in your career?

The student union seemed like it was at the center of life on campus. It being a hub around campus was one thing that I always admired about Oberlin. Also, I was a part of Fairchild Co-op when I first got there — it’s so cool that Oberlin doesn’t have Greek life. It has co-ops that create wholly self-sustaining and student-run communities where you learn governance. So that taught us community governance and how to run a society. I would say to look no further than that.

What role do you hope young people are going to play in your campaign? 

I want them to come join me. I want young people who believe in my vision, who share my vision, who share my experience, or recognize that it’s an important experience and that this story is not just Pablo’s story but their story as well. And that it’s not just a Philadelphia story. It’s a Pennsylvania story. It’s an Ohio story. It’s an American story. It’s an international story. 

I want to include them. I want to bring them into the fold. I want them to advise me because there’s only so much that I’ve learned, and others can fill in the gaps. And so for me, running this campaign is an opportunity to also help others join a movement. If they didn’t know where to step in or how to get involved, this is an opportunity. I’m sure there are students who are from Oberlin who may know about what my experience is. And if my experience resonates with them, this is an opportunity to join a movement.

So, my hope is to learn and then be a mentor, too, where I can be.