Vision

Participation in our democracy doesn't end at the voting booth. Together, we can make long-term structural change—by showing up, standing up, and working together to solve problems. Democracy and how it shows up in schools, workplaces, the economy, and our community, is being undermined by national politicians and corporate special interests seeking to divide us. As your state representative, I will lead the fight for structural reforms that expand the power of people in our district and across Minnesota.

Strengthen Our Democracy and Communities

Our democracy is at a crossroads and the stakes could not be higher. Big corporations and monied interests, like the NRA and Koch Brothers, flood our system with dollars to advance their interests and subvert the will of the people. I have spent my career fighting to defend and expand inclusive, people-powered democracy in Minnesota and across the country. I will work to build innovative forms of participation and engagement that harness and strengthen our voices to shape and improve policy that is centered on all of us. Together we will:

Expand and modernize voter registration: by protecting our nation leading Same Day Registration system, implementing automatic voter registration, allowing pre-registration of 16 and 17 year olds and securing and updating Minnesota’s Voter Registration List.
Ensure every Minnesotan has access to the ballot: by implementing full early voting and ensuring its accessible to all Minnesotans; creating a permanent mail-in-balloting list; repealing the misguided law that limits to three the number of voters a person can help in the polling place; sponsoring free public transportation to get to your polling place; and making election day a state holiday.
Expand the franchise and participation: by restoring the right to vote for citizens with felony-convictions upon release from incarceration; investing in outreach and education to ensure returning citizens know their voting rights; and changing state law to ensure that every adult Minnesota resident can participate in caucuses.
Reduce the influence of big money in our elections: by building a 21st century clean elections public financing system; modernizing and increasing the Minnesota Political Contribution Refund Program; strengthening campaign finance transparency, disclosure and enforcement; and fighting to end unlimited campaign spending and overturn Citizens United.
Ensure fair redistricting and a full Census count: by allocating additional funds to ensure a complete count of “Hard-to-Count” communities in Minnesota; refusing requests to share state data on citizenship or immigration status with the Trump Administration; ensuring that every person in Minnesota can safely participate in the 2020 Census and protecting vulnerable communities against attacks; and working to ensure fair transparent redistricting that prevents gerrymandering and creates truly representative districts.
Invest in election security and modernize our election systems: by protecting our election system from interference and hacking; investing in the hardware and software cyber security upgrades and oversight to safeguard elections systems for foriegn interference and hacking; implementing risk-limiting audits to ensure the reliability and confidence in our election results; authorizing the Secretary of State to access the most recent round of federal election security funds; and protecting voter data in Minnesota’s presidential primary

Please click here for more detail on each of the above priorities

Invest in Our Kids and Public Schools

Public education is the cornerstone of our democracy, the lifeblood of our economy and the center of our communities. I owe where I am today to Minneapolis Public Schools. Reading was hard for me, but access to committed public educators, supportive staff and special education services at Barton Open helped me succeed at South High School and put me on a path to Berkeley Law. Every Minnesota child deserves high quality public education, regardless of their background or zip code. Together we will:

Make up for decades of underinvestment by equitably distributing resources and moving us away from a reliance on the inequalities of property taxes to fund the basics of education.
Invest in the future of Minnesota by fully funding our public schools, providing universal Pre-K for all 3 and 4 year olds, and creating more full service community schools that provide supportive services to students and families. Parents shouldn't be pushed into financial instability for providing a great start to our littlest learners.
Ensure that Minnesota students can go to college and technical programs without being saddled with a lifetime of debt.

Foster Inclusion and Equity

We need to build a Minnesota where everyone thrives, with no exceptions. To get there we must address the inequity and racial disparities we face as a state. Together we will:

Pass legislation that centers the experiences and needs of those most impacted by the racial and economic disparities.
Stand up with our immigrant and refugee communities for policies that create a more inclusive Minnesota, one where every Minnesota resident feels safe and welcome. That means, passing drivers licenses for all immigrants, prohibiting ICE from contracting local jail facilities, ensuring undocumented immigrants are provided due process in the Minnesota justice system, requiring counties to report on coordination with ICE, and banning ICE from the state driver's license database.
Stand with Minnesota Black, Brown, Indigenous, and immigrant communities and work with communities to build power and fight for a more just and equitable Minnesota.

Reform our Criminal Justice System

I saw firsthand the disparities and injustices of our public safety and criminal justice system as a public defender. We must reform these systems to keep everyone in our community safe. Together we will:

Implement community-driven processes to reimagine our public safety system to ensure that every member of our community is safe.
Invest in the services and support people need to keep people out of our criminal justice system and incarceration in the first place.
Reform our criminal justice system to ensure it is promoting safety and justice and accountability in every community.
Pursue alternatives to incarceration as frequesntly as possible including youth diversion programs and specialty courts like drug, mental health, and veterans courts.
Invest in reparative policies and end the over-policing of communities of color adn stricter accountability measures to repair the impact that decades of bad policy has had on Black, Brown, Indigenous, immigrant and low-income communities.
Support a safe, regulated, and taxed cannabis market that legalizes recreational marijuana use, decriminalizes possession offenses and includes record expungement, regulates the sales and marketing, and reinvests tax revenue into the individuals and communities most impacted by the draconian drug policy.

Combat Climate Change and Build Resilient Communities

Climate change is a global threat that is impacting the health and resilience of Minnesota communities, our environment, and our natural resources. With the Trump Administration accelerating this crisis, Minnesota must lead to protect our state and our planet. We must fight to ensure Minnesota is a healthy and sustainable place to live for generations to come by reducing carbon emissions and transitioning to an equitable clean energy future for everyone in our state. Together we will:

Achieve 100% Clean Energy by 2050 and require utilities to invest in clean energy technologies first when increasing electricity generating capacity. We need to expand incentives for electric cars, increase the amount of charging stations statewide, and invest in transit and improvements to increase bicycle and pedestrian movement.
Prioritize environmental justice and the people who have been unfairly and disproportionately affected by the consequences of pollution and climate change.
Build the clean energy economy by creating high-quality, family-sustaining jobs that protect the health of workers and the environment.
Protect our natural environment, the health of our lakes, rivers and creeks and provide greater protections for pollinators and pollinator habitat.

Create Jobs and an Economy that Work for Minnesotans

To create an economy that works for all Minnesotans, we must strengthen the power of workers and their collective power in the workplace, our economy and our democracy. Big corporations and billionaires have concentrated immense wealth and power, while working people have seen their wages remain flat, costs rise and economic insecurity rise. To reverse this trend, we must make investments that create economic opportunity, advance racial equity, put power back in the hands of workers, and strengthen unions. Together we will:

Increase protections for labor unions, organizing in the workplace, and the ability to collectively bargain.
Stand up for worker rights by raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, increasing enforcement of wage theft, and putting an end to the misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
Enact a strong Paid Family and Medical Leave program allowing workers to take paid leave when they are pregnant, bonding with a new child, receiving treatment for cancer, taking care of a child with severe health problems, or providing support to a parent in their final days. We will also ensure that all employees have access to earned sick and safe time no matter where they work in Minnesota.

Support Healthy Families and Communities with Health Care that Works for All of Us

Health care is a right, and not a privilege for only those that can afford it. As a kid, I experienced firsthand the importance of Medicaid. My mom relied on public health insurance as she struggled with mental illness and was unable to work. Basic healthcare is inaccessible and unaffordable for too many Minnesota families and the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the vulnerabilities of our already broken public health and healthcare system. Together we will:

Protect and strengthen MinnesotaCare and fight for a single-payer health care system that cuts out the profit-making intermediary, like insurance companies, and makes dental, vision, and mental health services available to all Minnesotans.
Protect reproductive freedom and choice for all Minnesotans by ensuring every person has the power and ability to make healthy decisions about their own bodies.
Fight for reproductive rights and health justice for low-income women, women of color and trans folks because no one should be denied access to care because of their income, race, gender identity, or any other circumstances.
Protect LGBTQ+ Minnesotans by banning the coercive and harmful practices of conversion therapy and ensure that all Minnesotans receive ethical, affirming and culturally competent mental health care.

Ensure Housing for All

For families and communities to thrive, people need access to secure and affordable housing options. I know what it's like to move around a lot, in search of safe affordable housing. As a kid, I felt the anxiety of being on a waiting list for affordable housing units, and I remember the sense of relief when my mom was approved for a housing subsidy. Public support of affordable housing provided my mom and me stability and safety. No kid or family should have to worry about whether they can stay in their home, their community and their school because of a lack of affordable housing. Together we will:

Fight to expand affordable housing options by investing in rental assistance for families, prioritizing strategies that increase housing stability, increasing home-ownership among communities of color and working families, and pursuing proven approaches to end and prevent homelessness.
Work to expand and preserve affordable housing and protect and empower tenants.

End Gun Violence

The epidemic of gun violence has taken too many lives and threatens the safety and security of our communities. Together we will:

Follow the lead of our young leaders who are demanding we stand up to the NRA and take urgent action to pass common-sense gun reform.
Lead by implementing strong measures including automatic universal background checks on all gun sales and passing red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of those who could do harm to themselves and others.

Get to work, home and places of recreation while moving towards a clean energy future

Whether it means going to work, home or places of recreation, Minnesotans deserve a transportation system that gets you where they need to go.

Support a comprehensive transportation package that includes sufficient resources for transit, roads, bridges, bicycle transit, and pedestrian pathways.
Ensure any comprehensive transportation plan includes a plan to move to a carbon free future through enhanced electric vehicle options for consumers, electric vehicle infrastructure development funding, and improved bicycle transit.

MAKE OUR STATE AND DEMOCRACY TRULY INCLUSIVE & SUPPORTIVE OF ALL MINNESOTANS

I will fight for a state that respects the contributions of every Minnesotan, empowers everyone, and offers opportunity for each of us to thrive. That starts with ensuring we protect the rights and equality of all people with physical disabilities, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and those living with a mental health condition. As a kid, my mom struggled with mental illness that made it hard to keep her job as a Hennepin County social worker. It was SSDI (federal disability) and state programs that provided the income, healthcare, housing and support that my mom needed to support herself and care for me. That’s why I know how important it is to protect programs and support services for Minnesotans with disabilities and their families.

We must work to ensure that our state and our democracy is truly inclusive and supportive of all Minnesotans. Together we will:

Support the economic security of workers with disabilities by ensuring every Minnesota worker makes a $15 minimum wage, no exceptions, and that the state is meeting its legal obligations to ensure that people with disabilities are living, learning and working in the most integrated setting.
Support families & young people with disabilities by fully funding our schools including the $724 million special education funding gap and providing inclusive, culturally-responsive and comprehensive public education.
Protect the civil rights and liberties of Minnesotans with disabilities by ensuring access to the ballot and polling places, criminal justice reforms and working to build inclusive and innovative forms of participation and engagement in policy-making that centers the voice of self-advocates and the disability rights community.
Invest in affordable, accessible, and green living by increasing affordable and accessible housing options, including increasing the number of accessible rental units and homes and investing in accessible and convenient transportation options.
Ensuring that Minnesotans with disabilities have access to the healthcare and support they need to live healthy, independent lives by protecting Medicaid funding, addressing the shortage of workers providing personal care assistance (PCA) and ensuring people-centered planning for individuals using long-term state services, supports and mental health services.

Please click here for more detail on each of the above priorities