Opinion: Phil Andrew, Candidate for Congress, on How Crisis Shaped His Approach to Public Service

When people talk about gun violence, they often start with statistics. Since 2020, firearms have emerged as the leading cause of death among children in the United States, where youth are 10 times more likely to die by a gun than their peers in Canada. Each year, nearly 43,000 Americans die from gun-related injuries, and the nation now averages more than one mass shooting every single day.

I, Phil Andrew, am running for Congress because I know, firsthand, the cost of violence and the power of prevention. Gun violence is more than a statistic. It’s a moment that can destroy a life, a family, a community. And I know this because on a sunny May morning in 1988, that moment found me.

A Crisis That Changed Everything

I was just 20 years old, a student athlete home for the summer, when Laurie Dann, a shooter who had just attacked a nearby elementary school and killed an 8-year-old boy, fled into my family’s home. She took my parents and me hostage at gunpoint. I negotiated my parents’ safe release, but when I moved to disarm her, she shot me in the chest at point-blank range. The bullet pierced both my lungs and grazed my heart.

I survived because of 16 hours of surgery and a community that refused to let me go. And when I woke up alive, my doctor sat on my bed and asked me a question that changed my life: What are you going to do about this?

Leading Under Pressure

I don’t think about survival as something that happened to me. I think about responsibility — what you do when given another chance. In the decades since the attack, preventing violence has become the mission of my life. I spent 21 years in the FBI as a hostage negotiator and counterintelligence officer, where I worked on public corruption, domestic terrorism, and international conflict. That work demanded calm under pressure, deep listening, and an understanding of how fear, grievance, and miscommunication can spiral into tragedy.

After retiring from the FBI, I founded a consultancy called PAX Group to bring those hard-earned lessons home. At PAX, our work focuses on crisis management, conflict resolution, and violence prevention for schools, hospitals, faith communities, nonprofits, and public institutions. What I’ve learned — again and again — is that prevention isn’t just about policy. It’s about people. It’s about understanding behavior, asking the right questions early, and building trust.

Our Politics Need New Tools

Today, as I see a government paralyzed by distrust, gridlock, and a terrifying lurch toward autocracy, the skills I’ve spent my career developing are exactly what’s missing in our leadership. Our nation is held hostage, and this moment demands the skills of a hostage negotiator:

Listening to Understand, Not to React: Political conversations are dominated by talking past one another. Real change requires hearing underlying fears, motivations, and values and building a foundation of trust.
Preparation Before Pressure: Congress tends to wait until the last minute to act, but decisions in the heat of the moment often fail. The best outcomes come from anticipating challenges and creating strategies before crises hit.
Rethinking Zero-Sum Politics: Too often, every disagreement is treated as a win-or-lose battle. In crisis work, the best solutions come from expanding the pie, finding shared interests, and creating outcomes everyone can live with.

I’ve seen these approaches save lives. Decades of working in crisis prevention have taught me that lasting solutions don’t come from confrontation or blame — they come from understanding, trust, and careful preparation. That is the problem-solving mindset I hope to bring to Congress.

This post was submitted as part of Better Magazine’s “You Said It” program, which publishes perspectives by community contributors.

Phil Andrew, candidate for Illinois’ Ninth District in Congress, is a survivor of the 1988 Laurie Dann shooting, a 21-year FBI Special Agent and hostage negotiator, lawyer, and public safety leader. He is also the founder of PAX Group, a firm dedicated to crisis response, community building, and violence prevention.

Phil Andrew is a candidate for U.S. Congress representing Illinois’ Ninth District. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Better Magazine or the Make It Better Foundation.

More From Better Magazine