MISSION-DRIVEN
Priorities
We are living in a moment of great consequence: our democracy, our fundamental rights, and our humanity are all at stake. For years, my work has centered on making sure people feel seen, heard, and understood, especially during moments of crisis and change, when the conversations are hard and the stakes are high. As DFLers, we know we have the right message and the right priorities. This moment, especially, demands the right messenger.
I’m ready to be a clear voice for our community.
A World-Class Public Education System
From health care to education, access matters — and every child in Minnesota deserves access to excellent, well-funded public schools. I will fight to fully fund our public schools, reduce class sizes, expand mental health supports in our schools, and ensure students have the resources they need to succeed.
Just as important, we must support our teachers — by fixing broken pension systems, improving pay and working conditions, and ensuring educators can retire with dignity instead of burnout. Investing in public education is investing in our future, and there’s work to be done to build on the historic investments made in our kids and their schools in the last biennium.
Protecting Women’s Rights and Freedoms
As a mother of daughters, I believe we cannot allow the freedoms that previous generations fought for and my generation has enjoyed, including reproductive rights, to be stripped away from this generation. As someone who herself experienced multiple miscarriages and was only able to maintain a healthy pregnancy with fertility treatments, I’m also a firm believer of the right for every person to access the reproductive health care they need, and that everyone deserves.
The PRO Act, one of the first bills passed and signed into law under DFL leadership in 2023, was a major win for women’s reproductive freedom. We must continue to fight back against any effort to undermine it at the state and, especially, at the federal level, where partisan threats to basic health care and funding for health care providers like Planned Parenthood are constant.
I’ll also support passage of an Equal Rights Amendment, which would protect Minnesotans against discrimination of any kind, including on the basis of pregnancy, gender, or sexual orientation, along with race, color, nationality, and disability status. I believe love is love, and everyone has the right to be their true, authentic self without fear of judgment, harassment, or worse – and I will fight to protect those rights as your Senator.
Affordable, High-Quality Health Care for All
Everyone deserves access to high-quality, affordable, and trustworthy health care — no matter their age, income, or zip code. As your State Senator, I will fight to protect and strengthen Minnesota’s health care system, especially in this moment when historic federal cuts and other changes to Medicaid threaten to do long-term damage not only to our state budget, but more importantly, to vulnerable Minnesotans and their caregivers.
This means lowering costs, protecting coverage for older adults and families, expanding access to mental health care, and ensuring rural and urban communities alike can see a provider when they need one – without worrying about if they can afford the care they need. Health care should be a right in Minnesota, not a privilege. And access to quality, affordable health care should remain a priority at every stage of life and through every chronic condition.
I not only profoundly believe that truth, our family lived it. We struggled during my father’s Alzheimer’s marathon, despite our easy access to resources. That’s why I’ve long been an advocate on behalf of all families affected by Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia AND all aging adults; again – every family, every adult, every child deserves access to high-quality, affordable, and trustworthy health care.
Strong, Common-Sense Gun Laws
Our children deserve to go to school without living in constant fear of gun violence. As a journalist, I’ve too often reported on the tragedy of gun violence – including recently in our own community – and listened to the pleas for action by parents and other advocates calling for strong, common-sense gun safety measures that will help save lives. I believe we must honor these families and survivors of gun violence through meaningful action.
Like most Minnesotans, I supported the DFL legislature’s work to expand background checks and institute so-called red flag laws that allow law enforcement or family to legally keep firearms out of the hands of individuals exhibiting dangerous, crisis-driven behavior. To build on that progress, I will push for safe storage laws, limits on high-capacity magazines, and banning weapons that are fundamentally designed to inflict mass harm.
To be clear, this is not about taking guns away from hunters or those who own firearms legally and use them responsibly. It’s about setting clear, reasonable guardrails so weapons designed for war are not widely available and used in our communities; and it’s about putting the safety of our kids first.
A Healthy Planet and Clean Energy Future
Minnesota is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, and we have a responsibility to protect our natural resources – including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness – for future generations. I support policies to protect our clean water and air, and preserve access to natural lands. I also adamantly believe in more investment in local solutions like community gardens, which allow urban areas to enjoy access to fresh produce year-round.
When it comes to clean energy, I believe that environmental stewardship and economic opportunities are not mutually exclusive but go hand in hand. As one economist told me in the course of an interview after the Trump Administration first pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords, we can either produce clean energy domestically or we can import solar panels and other alternatives from our global economic competitors.
The 2024 carbon-free electricity standard passed by the DFL legislature in 2023 and signed into law by Gov. Walz recognized that truth, and is putting Minnesota on a path to a clean energy future, even while the federal government is actively undermining efforts such as these through their attacks on solar credits, EV incentives, and even wind energy. By leading on climate solutions at the state level, including state-funded clean energy incentives we can grow our economy, create jobs, and leave our children a healthier, more sustainable future.
Stronger Stewardship of Our Tax Dollars
Minnesotans deserve – and I believe all Minnesotans want – a state government that responsibly spends their hard-earned tax dollars. As your State Senator, I will be a careful steward of the taxpayer dollars and work across the aisle to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse. Fiscal responsibility means investing wisely in what works, demanding accountability, and making sure public dollars are used to serve the public good as intended.
Fiscal responsibility also means that our tax system is fair, which means closing tax loopholes that advantage large corporations over local small businesses, and ensuring that the wealthiest Minnesotans are paying their fair share in taxes. This is not about punishing success, but it is about recognizing that state investments in public education, health care, workforce training, transportation and more are what make Minnesota the best place to live, work, and raise a family.
Protecting and Preserving Our Democracy
Like so many of you, I am concerned about the future of our democracy. For the first time in my lifetime – although perhaps not the first time in our country’s history – the federal government is wielding its power over states in order to force an agenda that is harmful to so many in our community, especially our wonderful immigrant neighbors. We have seen countless threats to federal funding for services and programs our entire state relies on, tied to demands for state-level data that would be used to further crack down on the most vulnerable among us.
Adding to that – threats from the current Administration to the election process, and a system that has been overtaken by special interest money and influence since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and it is clear that our democracy is under attack. Yet we the people have the power to change that – peacefully, both through the ballot box and by marching in the streets. I will fight every day to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to vote.