Priorities

Electric Vehicle charging stations: As electric vehicles become more common in Minnesota, we need to ensure that they are an accessible product. To meet demand, we must use public charters to increase the number of public EV charging stations.

Make sustainable transportation affordable: We should continue making investments in making sustainable forms of transportation affordable, such as the recent E-Bike rebate program to help people buy electric bikes.

Collaborate: We need to work with our neighborhoods and community stakeholders to understand what their needs are and how new transportation infrastructure impacts property taxes.

Expand Transportation Options: By increasing the usability and options of transportation, we make it easier for neighbors to get around the city independently. This lets older neighbors age in place, and lets younger generations learn independence.

Safe Infrastructure for Safe Biking: We need to invest in safe pathways for both leisure and commuting bikers.

Support Dedicated Bus Lanes: These lanes help mitigate traffic and reduce accidents from frequent merging on busy thoroughfares.

Partnering with Local and Federal Entities: We can use these partnerships to secure funding to improve timelines of sidewalk repair infrastructure. With 61A being a high traffic corridor for all modes of transportation, the district needs higher investment in our infrastructure.

Coordinate: We need to coordinate our transportation infrastructure plans with our affordable housing infrastructure plans to address density, mitigate traffic congestion, and make homes accessible to low income residents without cars.

Climate change: As a young leader, it’s apparent that now is the time to act on the climate crisis or we will be too late. We need to make sure to monitor the implementation of 100% clean energy by 2040 and continue to invest in sustainable infrastructure as we move forward as a state.

Weatherization: We are already seeing the effects of climate change in Minnesota. Though it's important to make investment to slow it down, we also need to invest in climate resistant infrastructure. This means preparing for floods, heatwaves, and rapidly fluctuating temperatures. We need to bring our Union friends along with us as we build this clean infrastructure and provide them with any necessary training to learn the skills needed to help build a sustainable Minnesota.

Environmental justice: I will work with a broad coalition of underserved communities to center their voices in the climate conversation where they have been historically left out. I will ensure we move forward with sustainability goals, while keeping in mind the impacts that climate change have already had on our BIPOC and lower income communities.

Preserving what makes 61A home: Like many other people, I moved from my original home because of the allure of 61A. We have beautiful lakes, greenspaces, and wildlife by the water. We need to make sure our community taps into the Environmental & Natural Resources Trust fund and leverage grants for local areas to preserve the natural beauty in our communities.

Funding our schools: Every kid in Minnesota despite their zip code deserves a world class education. We know that child development is imperative to a child's overall success and that means we need a robust pre-kindergarten system to prepare our children for the world.

Cross subsidies: Filling the gaps in our English Learners and Special Education funding is necessary to take the burden off of our local districts who are still underfunded.

Opposing school vouchers: School vouchers divert funding from our already underfunded public schools. This negatively affects those who most need quality public schools. I vow to support public education, rather than diverting resources to private institutions.

Supporting our teachers: Growing up I saw my teachers as an extension of family and trusted mentors. Our teachers spend every day with our future generations, caring for them and helping them learn. They deserve a government that cares for them like they are caring for our future. I will support efforts for teachers and support staff to unionize, and am committed to supporting existing unions, like MFT.

Higher Education: I support programs like the North Star Act that make higher education more accessible for low income students. But we need to expand the North Star Act to make sure everyone is able to get the degrees they need to succeed.

Mental health: As someone with anxiety, I know that despite the destigmatization of mental health, it's hard to admit that you yourself might need help. I believe that we need mental health covered by insurance and readily available for children in schools.

Prescription drug prices: We have made progress in Minnesota addressing prescription drug affordability but we still have a long way to go. We must monitor the Prescription Drug Affordability Board as they operate to ensure that we are offering the best prices possible to Minnesotans for many life saving medications. Refilling a prescription shouldn’t be financially challenging, and I will work to make MNSure prices everyone’s prices.

Personal Care Assistants and Direct Support Professionals: Because of low-wages and a lack of benefits, we are facing a staffing shortage in the caregiving sector. PCAs and DSPs help aging and disabled individuals live full, independent lives. Care workers deserve to be respected and paid a living wage for doing vital work in our community. As a former PCA myself, I have seen firsthand how crucial this field of work is, and we need to invest in our caregivers for the sake of everyone.

Passing a Public Option: With our current legislature working to submit a federal waiver for a public option, the next legislature will decide what action to take. Assuming the Public Option decided on is a good deal for Minnesotans, I will work to pass it and ensure we have capacity to expand it so Minnesotans have as many choices as possible when going to the doctor.

Starting a Family: Minnesotans start families in many different ways. We need to make sure that all options available are equitable and just. This means protecting IVF and surrogacy as options for families. This also requires examining our adoption and foster care systems more closely, and working with Hennepin County to ensure the rules in place set up both prospective parents AND adoptees for a healthy and thriving life together.

Childcare: Parents are overburdened by the rising costs of childcare. We need to pass the Great Start Child Care credit to help reduce the price tag on giving a child the support they need in their formative years.

Expanding Universal Pre-K: With dropping literacy rates in our schools, we need to do more at the State level to support our kids. By investing in universal Pre-K, we are setting our children up to be successful when they enter the K-12 schools.

Access to Nutritious Food: We know access to healthy food is a vital component to supporting healthy families. By continuing the Farm-To-School grants program, we can continue bringing fresh local food to students, while also supporting local farmers. And by pairing these grants with the expansion of Universal School Meals to provide options for students who have dietary restrictions, we can better address the needs of families who are spending a fortune on medically prescribed diets. Foods that are vegan, gluten free, or address other health conditions are often much more expensive than food that isn’t allergen free. Parents of kids with dietary restrictions deserve to benefit from universal meals, just like everyone else.

Expanding Grants for Small Businesses: As we expand infrastructure through major business corridors, we must ensure that small businesses are financially supported through periods of construction. If we want to “bring back Uptown”, we need to INVEST in Uptown small businesses.

Advocate for Anti-Displacement Funding for small businesses: As our city modernizes and transit is expanded, we need to protect our communities from rising costs. Small shops receive more business when located on major transit corridors. However, if these businesses must close completely due to construction, it removes what makes the neighborhood so great. We need to protect the people and places that make communities desirable for new transit lines.

Fair taxes: We need to ensure small and medium sized businesses are taxed at a rate where they can thrive. We know these businesses are central to our communities as they are the ones who are sponsoring little league teams, school events, and neighborhood meetings. I am committed to continuing Minnesota’s legacy of having the most progressive tax system in the country to protect the businesses that care most about us.

Housing Shortage: Minnesota, like much of the country, is thousands of units short of meeting the housing needs of the state. I support policies that support the full spectrum of housing. As your State Representative, I will work towards increasing first-time homeowner grants, expanding inclusionary zoning, preserving naturally occurring affordable housing, and exploring options for vacant and abandoned office buildings.

Invest in the full spectrum of housing: We must encourage the construction of both deeply affordable and market-rate housing by working with the developers to dedicate profit to subsidizing affordable housing units.

Upholding our historic neighborhoods: We need to maintain the unique character of the neighborhoods in our district that make it such a desirable place to live. As our Minneapolis population grows, we need to highlight what makes the area so special: the architecture of the homes, the local art pieces, and natural landscapes for recreation. To maintain this character, we should look into repurposing existing vacant buildings, and preserving the naturally occurring affordable housing.

Vision for Downtown: Revitalize and re-envision our downtown community by transforming vacant office space into multifamily housing

ADA Accessibility: Ensuring new properties follow accessibility requirements to provide housing for our aging and disabled populations. If we cut corners to save money, we won’t actually solve the housing shortage we are in! This also applies to making sure our shelters for our unhoused neighbors are up to ADA standards to ensure they are accessible to individuals living with disabilities

Advocate for Anti-Displacement Funding: As our city modernizes and transit is expanded, we need to protect our communities from rising costs. It is desirable to live near transit, which makes property values go up. We need to ensure as we are building transit, we don’t price people out of the area, especially those who need transit access most.

Ban Source of Income Discrimination: A prime example of this is Section 8 housing discrimination, which is still legal in parts of Minnesota. We need to make sure everyone is able to rent, without prejudice.

Community focused approach: I vow to listen to every community member to hear their concerns regarding public safety, whether it be lack of officers or distrust in the criminal justice system

Public Safety Aid: I will author legislation that delivers direct aid to the City of Minneapolis to help MPD recruit new officers to meet the staffing numbers needed, as well as support alternative public safety programs, such as Behavioral Crisis Response.

POST Board: I will work with the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board to ensure their training is set up in a way to keep the community and emergency responders safe when they are called to respond to calls.

Gun Control: The passage of “red flag” laws last year was a great first step. Now we need to keep going and pass safe storage laws and a ban on assault rifles. I’m also open to exploring legislation that tracks, records, and registers ammunition purchases.

Crime Prevention: Ensuring all Minnesotans have access to basic needs to reduce the root causes of crime before it happens. This means providing dignified, good-paying jobs; affordable housing; education; and access to transportation.

Restorative Justice: Working with the county and community stakeholders to invest in restorative justice programs that provide resources and support to victims, and hold perpetrators of crimes accountable for their actions

Equal Rights Amendment: As a queer woman, this issue is personal to me. In Minnesota we currently enjoy many more rights than our bordering neighbors. But that doesn’t mean laws can’t be changed. We need protection for gender identity to be included on the ballot initiative for the Equal Rights Amendment to make our ERA the strongest in the country.

Trans Refuge: After the passage of the Trans Refuge bill, we have had an influx of two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer plus friends move to our state for sanctuary. With a growing population, our state needs to have the resources to welcome these new Minnesotans, as well as those of us already living here. We need to mandate insurance covering Gender Affirming Health Care. Living with gender dysphoria is too often overlooked, and devastating to those who suffer from it. We need to keep our trans friends safe by covering these life saving procedures.

Strengthening Hate Crime legislation: Our queer and trans friends are experiencing a disturbing uptick in violence, both in Minneapolis proper and throughout the state. Violence against queer and trans folks is getting normalized, and we need to fight back on this. I am committed to strengthening Hate Crime legislation to ensure that if someone is hurt or assaulted for being themselves, the root cause of the incident is properly addressed and acknowledged.

Rights for same-sex parents: As Minnesota moves to protect surrogacy and IVF for aspiring parents, we need to make sure we update the laws on the books to ensure that same sex parents have full parental rights, and donors can’t come back into the picture and claim custody.

Comprehensive sex education: Truly comprehensive sex education is not only the removal of abstinence only curriculum, but the complete teaching that recognizes queer identity. Queer youth entering adulthood who are considering being intimate with a partner are often left in the dark on the way to stay safe. Queer folks have higher STI rates because of a lack of inclusive education. Comprehensive sex-education is also linked to lower rates of teen pregnancy, intimate partner violence, and long-term abuse from family members. Comprehensive sex education brings everyone to a better place.

Constitutional right to abortion: Right now, Minnesota is an island of abortion access in the midwest. While Minnesota has passed robust protections for abortion care for both MN residents and visitors, there is still a looming threat of increased restrictions. I support constitutionally protecting abortion access, specifically through passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Increase funding for reproductive health clinics: With Minnesota experiencing an influx of out-of-state visitors coming for abortions, other aspects of reproductive healthcare access are falling through the cracks. Many clinics visited by out-of-state patients are also providers for individuals on medicare and medicaid, meaning they rely heavily on state funding. If we truly believe in equitable healthcare access, we need to fund reproductive healthcare clinics to ensure that whether a patient is getting an abortion, STI treatment, or prenatal care, they get their needs met.

Insurance coverage for reproductive healthcare: Throughout the country, many states are going beyond just restricting abortion, but also restricting access to IVF and birth control. I firmly believe that everybody deserves choice in how they take care of their body. Choices like abortion, IVF, contraceptives, PEP/PREP, vasectomy, and more need to be covered by health insurance providers, both through state and private insurance companies.

Cracking down on CPCs: Crisis Pregnancy Centers are sham medical facilities that misuse medical language to scare people into avoiding abortions. These facilities target low-income individuals and create false promises to support them through their pregnancies, while pressuring individuals into subscribing to religious and conservative ideologies. CPC’s receive tens of thousands of dollars a year in state funding without any government oversight. I believe we need to hold higher standards for clinics receiving state funding and putting an end to false medical advice.

Preventing the return of TRAP laws: Abortions are safe, basic, and standard medical procedures. While Minnesota has overturned the numerous Targeted Restrictions of Abortion Providers laws, we are still not in the clear. We need to constitutionally protect abortion clinics from having separate qualifications to operate as medical facilities.

Improving shelters: We must increase the number of shelter beds in our district and treat our unhoused neighbors with dignity. As we preserve and improve our shelters, we need to keep in mind the disproportionately high rate of queer and BIPOC Minnesotans in shelters and ensure that our facilities have gender-neutral and culturally safe spaces.

Invest in What Works: We have seen great success from programs that take housing-first and harm-reduction approaches to permanently housing unsheltered neighbors. We need to invest in the programs that have proven successful, such as the work done by Avivo and American Indian Community Development Corporation.

Increase the Street Outreach workforce: Caseworkers and Street Outreach teams are doing the most direct work when it comes to getting folks permanent housing. We need to increase funding for these programs to give staff dignified wages and better benefits that support them in their day-to-day lives, and address high-turnover rates.

Tackling Labor Violations: We must collaborate with unions and labor organizers to ensure the Labor Standards Board is meeting the needs of workers and following through on reports of labor violations.

Protecting every worker: We cannot ignore the crisis of undocumented workers being exploited. We must build off of and expand existing protections and services for undocumented immigrants to reduce risk of abuse and trafficking.

Hold greedy CEOs accountable: Minnesota needs to tackle widespread worker misclassification and abuses of the title of “contract worker” to avoid providing employees benefits like unemployment and overtime. I will strengthen Work Title Protections .

Support the Education Support Professionals Bill of Rights: We must ensure support staff in Minnesota schools are treated with dignity and respect, and encouraged to work in schools long term. This means addressing staff’s needs directly and working with new and existing unions to advocate for staff’s needs.

Paid Family and Medical Leave: I am committed to working with legislators and agencies to oversee the effective implementation of Paid Family and Medical Leave to ensure that the rollout of this program is successful and delivering benefits to Minnesotans on time.

Supporting ALL public employees: Minnesota employers must follow the Public Employees Labor Relations Act in good faith and support public employees in their efforts to bargain, mediate, and unionize. Every worker deserves the opportunity to collectively bargain.