ISSUES

Quality healthcare is not only a right, but a moral obligation we have to each other, especially our most vulnerable. Every day Missourians make decisions between the prescriptions that they need to survive and the housing and food that they need to live. Many people are only a healthcare issue away from poverty.

Many politicians argue that market forces should control the healthcare marketplace. Market driven only works when there is an upper limit to what you are willing to pay. There is a limit to what you would pay for a new TV, but not your child's health? As a parent, I would give all I had and more if my child needed it. Everyday we ask people to make this kind of decision and it is not fair.

Inaction means less healthy communities, higher premiums for those with coverage, and the loss of hospitals, especially in rural areas.

As your state representative, I’ll support common sense measures like expanding Medicaid, so no Missourian is forced to choose between a decent job and keeping their healthcare.

Every Missouri child should have access to free, quality public education regardless of their zip code. As your representative, I will work to strengthen our public schools and fully fund our commitment to our kids.

Underfunding our public schools leads to the loss of good teachers and reinforces a cycle of poverty.

I will support universal early childhood education, because investing in our kids from an early age is the best way for us to invest in our future. I will also support investment in higher education and workforce training, to ensure all Missourians have the opportunity to gain the skills to compete in our economy.

A strong economy is a symbiotic relationship between good jobs and a good workforce. Workers that are treated fairly, paid well and protected perform better. This leads to lower costs of retention and retraining for businesses.

As your state rep, I’ll fight for those who truly build up our economy—our workers—for the wages, benefits, and protections they deserve. I’ll support investments in educational opportunities to support a 21st century workforce.

I’ll work for policies that support local businesses who provide good jobs in our state and keep our economy growing. And I’ll work to bring new businesses here that want to capitalize on our skilled Missouri workforce and quality of life. But I’ll always put workers’ interests, and local businesses before the special interests of large corporations.

Central to the role of government is to fairly enforce the law, and to provide protection for its people. I will support our law enforcement officers in their difficult jobs, while also demanding accountability when they overreach.

I will support tough sentences for violent criminals, while also seeking ways to reduce our prison population and reintegrate folks into society after they have served their time. I’ll also support drug treatment courts and diversion programs that find alternative ways to punish and rehabilitate non-violent criminals without simply throwing them in prison.

No matter where you live in Missouri, the root causes of crime are the same: a lack of educational and work opportunities, along with drug addiction and poverty. Addressing these basic issues must always be central in any conversation about crime.

Our prescription drug epidemic tragically touches too many families in every community across Missouri. Tracking the frequency of prescriptions filled for these addictive drugs would allow for a chance to intervene with high risk users and save lives.

One critical tool our state can deploy to combat the misuse of opioids is the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Missouri remains the only state in the entire country without a statewide PDMP, and I will support efforts to finally pass this legislation for our citizens.

I believe in the saying “show me your budget, and I’ll show you your values.” Our state’s budget serves as a moral contract with our citizens. Every year, it is up to the state government to allocate the tax dollars you pay to maintain and improve our quality of living.

But while our schools are underfunded, our healthcare costs are on the rise while our taxes increase, and we’re borrowing money to pay for our crumbling roads and bridges, corporations in Missouri are receiving tax cuts and incentive packages.

We simply should not be handing out money to corporations hoping that prosperity will trickle down. As your state rep, I will be a careful steward of your tax dollars in Jefferson City.

I believe you and your family are the economic drivers of our state. Our budget should reflect that by investing in the things that will improve you and your family’s life, rather than lining the pockets of big businesses.

Every person should have the autonomy to make decisions about their body and their life. Republicans have passed extreme abortion bans in recent years, limiting access to abortion even in cases of rape, incest, or medical need.

Mothers die from childbirth in Missouri in numbers far greater than the rest of the industrialized world, and instead of promoting healthcare, Missouri legislators have placed burdensome restrictions on it.

Republicans have gone so far as to pass legislation that costs hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend against Constitutional challenges, while at the same time blaming budget shortfalls for lack of funding for essential items like school transportation.

As your state rep, I will stand with women for the right to make the best decisions about their healthcare for their own lives.

Faith in government and the political process is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy. As your state rep, I’ll fight to shine a light on those who conceal their donors and influence our politics with dark money.

In 2018, Missourians overwhelmingly voted in favor of Amendment 1, known as CLEAN MO. It capped contributions and limited the way money could move in and out of campaign coffers.

Special interests have continued to find loopholes around these laws, pushing ‘dark money’ further into the political process.

As a private citizen, every April 15th, our government wants us to do a full accounting of where our money comes from and how we got it. Why should we not hold the politicians to the same standard?

Every year for the past two decades, the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA) has been filed, only to be blocked by Republicans. MONA would allow basic protections to our LGBTQ community by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri’s Human Rights Act.

Missourians should not have to fear losing their jobs or being denied housing for who they love—discrimination that is currently completely legal in our state.

As your state rep, I will work for a Missouri that welcomes people regardless of race, religion, gender, age or sexual orientation, and protects all people from discrimination.