PRIORITIES
Fighting for my neighbors is not new to me.
As a life-long resident of our community, as a former White Bear Lake Police Department Reserve Sergeant, as someone with over 20 years experience in the disability support services field, and as someone with an active civic history fighting for equality, I know how to improve our neighbors lives.
I will continue to be an energetic policymaker across a variety of issue areas.
PUBLIC SAFETY
In my career, I have served as a Sheriff’s Deputy, a Reserve Sergeant, and a 911 Dispatcher. I understand the unique demands our entire public safety system needs. We must continue to invest in the people that make our public safety system work by adding resources for emergency mental health services. We can and should continue to right-size public safety solutions for the problems we are trying to solve.
We must take care of those who serve so they can safely take care of us.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
When the United States Supreme Court struck down the guaranteed right to abortion and reproductive health care in 2022, my colleagues and I galvanized around enshrining these rights into Minnesota law. The right to bodily autonomy protects so many intimate, personal decisions such as if and when we start a family. We have protected comprehensive sex education, access to reproductive health care across the entire state, and abortion in order to preserve Minnesotans’ fundamental rights.
We must continue to be a bulwark against those that would take us backwards. Your body is your business, and I will fight to protect your decisions.
QUEER RIGHTS
As the Vice Chair of the largest Queer Legislators Caucus in our state’s history, I am committed to advancing the rights of all Minnesotans regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. This means committing to accessible, high-quality health care; protection of our political and legal equality; and working to dismantle discrimination in all of its forms. We have made so much progress in the last few years, especially by making Minnesota a transgender refuge state, banning conversion “therapy”, and protecting access to gender affirming care. We have more to do, such as passing a comprehensive Equal Rights Amendment constitutional amendment to be put on our ballot.
We must protect and strengthen our Queer communities across the state of Minnesota. For some, these protections are a matter of life and death, and I will continue the hard, necessary work at the Legislature.
DISABILITY SERVICES
The demands and costs for disability service providers and families of our neighbors with disabilities are increasing year after year. These cost increases are exacerbated by the fact that it’s harder and harder to find workers to care for our neighbors. For our neighbors with disabilities who are able to work, this includes paying them a fair wage for their work. We must continue the progress we’ve made of creating a fair wage for direct support professionals and easing some of the regulatory challenges to group homes, all while putting safety and high-quality services first.
We must do more to ensure our neighbors with disabilities are not just surviving, but thriving.
ECONOMIC SECURITY
For many of our neighbors, it’s becoming harder and harder to afford everyday expenses. From rising rents for renters to rising home prices for homeowners to inflated groceries and home goods to scarce and expensive child care, Minnesotans need more support. It’s why I am so proud that we passed the largest middle-class tax cut in state history and eliminated social security tax on the majority of seniors. I support fully enacting price gouging legislation so corporations can’t raise prices just to enrich shareholders. I also will keep fighting for robust investing in child care affordability so our families have better, more affordable options.
We must make Minnesota affordable for all of our neighbors, and we owe it to all Minnesotans to share the prosperity of our state.
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health is just as important as physical health. As someone with personal experience dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from employment, I know how important it is to make care affordable and accessible. Our current “system” is not working when everyone, from high schoolers to our police officers, our neighbors cannot afford or access this necessary health care. Over the past few years, we have invested tens of millions of dollars in state reimbursement for mental health care, keeping crucial providers solvent and providing care. We need to invest more in our mental health workforce and on accessibility to make Minnesota a mental health state.
We must continue the momentum, shed the stigma, and increase access to high-quality mental health support for all Minnesotans.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
The impacts of climate change can be seen all around us. Minnesota has experienced extended droughts followed by excessively strong storms, wetter winters, and erratic temperature swings. As the Vice Chair of the Sustainable Infrastructure Committee the last two years, our state is charting the way forward to tackle these issues and impacts in an equitable way. I have supported bold efforts to reduce pollution, increase renewable energy provision and usage, and invest in infrastructure that will stand the test of a changing climate. We also have a responsibility to make sure this renewable development benefits marginalized communities that were previously impacted by the buildout of fossil fuel infrastructure.
We must make headway every Legislative Session to mitigate climate change and protect Minnesota’s future.
EDUCATION
Our local public education system is an incredible example of community-building and the power of our neighbors. Over the last few years, we have invested billions into pre-K, K12 education, and higher education. We are giving more and more families access to affordable preschool for their children. We are finally back to the levels of investment in K12 education prior to the drastic cuts from Governor Pawlenty’s administration, and I am confident that we will continue investing for our students. Finally, we created the North Star Promise grant program that ensures Minnesotans who make under $80,000 have free tuition and fees at all public postsecondary institutions in Minnesota, including the University of Minnesota and community colleges. As a Century College graduate myself, I know the benefit that these institutions hold for our neighbors.
We must continue to support our educators and students in every way possible.
WORKER’S RIGHTS
Hardworking Minnesotans keep our state running and deserve our strong support. I support the reinvigorated worker’s rights and unionization movement to ensure fairness and dignity in the workplace. Employers are in the middle of a tight labor market crunch and one of the best ways to support them is to invest in our state’s workers and preserve the gains they have made. This includes supporting prevailing wage laws and enforcement, ensuring wage theft perpetrators are held accountable, and better balancing worker power with employer power.
We must make sure that our policies, such as Paid Family and Medical Leave, Earned Sick and Safe Time, and worker misclassification protections are implemented to benefit our workers.
HEALTHCARE
Health care is one of the top areas of cost concerns for our neighbors. We must do more to expand coverage to reduce costs. I am glad that the federal government will negotiate prescription drug prices for seniors, but we need more innovation to keep health care accessible and affordable. I support expanding Minnesota Care in ways that will help families in our community.
We must ensure Minnesotans can afford their health care, and right now we are not doing that.
VOTER’S RIGHTS
Minnesota has a history of free, fair, and open elections. We have invested in our system to protect voters from being disenfranchised and to continue our state’s place amongst the top voter turnout states in the nation. Minnesota has protections in place that have been tested and proven to prevent voter fraud. As independent experts and voters in our community know, our system works. Initiatives like Ranked Choice Voting, expansions of no-excuse absentee voting, felon re-enfranchisement, and other efforts to ensure full participation help ensure all have a voice in who represents us.
We must protect the sacred right to vote in Minnesota, and I believe we will do that.