ISSUES

I believe in a government that centers on community, family, and a better future for all Missourians.

 

I am committed to…

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Better education funding

Missouri schools deserve the money they need to serve kids 5 days a week with teachers that can afford to go home and not to a second job. This state is 50th in teacher pay and 49th in education funding, and all over the state, schools are moving to 4-day weeks for lack of funds. In a state with a 6 billion dollar surplus, public schools are struggling to keep teachers in the classroom. Meanwhile in Missouri, Republican lawmakers are trying to direct more of those tax dollars to private schools with a voucher program. That program would use our tax dollars to send some kids in St Charles County to 5 days a week private schools, while pulling money out of our award-winning public schools. I vow to fight for our public schools, the ones my kids go to alongside yours. I will push to raise teacher pay, fully fund our schools, and legislate a 5-day school week, so that all kids in this state can get a full education and their parents can go to work 5 days a week without having to worry about what to do with their kids on the 5th day.

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Better access to healthcare

Everyone gets sick or injured sometimes. We’re so lucky to have first responders and good doctors in Missouri to help us when that happens. Unfortunately, 19 hospitals in Missouri have closed in the last 10 years, and 12 of those were in rural areas. All over the state, folk are struggling to get the care they need. When rural areas lose access to healthcare, the consequences are felt across the state. Suddenly, the number of patients in suburban and urban areas has gone up, but the number of doctors has stayed the same. We have longer wait-times and less doctors able to take new patients. Oftentimes, Medicaid payments made to doctors and hospitals are too low to keep the doors open. I vow to stand with our hospitals. I will push to increase the Medicaid payments. I will fight for a Medicaid process that is fast and easy, so that people who qualify can get the care they need when they need it. No one should have to wait for a trip to a crowded emergency room when things get bad.

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Better access to childcare

Kids, particularly little kids, need safe, loving, caretakers while their parents work to feed the family, at a price young families can afford. On average, it costs $16,000 to have a child in a daycare, and that’s only if you can find a daycare in the area that has a spot. Many daycares run on incredibly tight margins and there aren’t enough of them to serve all the kids who need them. They don’t make much money, they can’t pay much money, and teachers leave at an alarming rate. In this system, nobody wins. I vow to fight for better subsidies for working families to send their kids to safe daycare at a price they can afford, while making sure daycares have the money they need to stay open.

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Safer schools for all children

Every child deserves to go to school and feel safe, seen, heard, and loved. When Republican lawmakers push to out trans kids to their parents and peers before they feel safe doing so or Republican lawmakers insist that they can’t play sports or use bathrooms, they put those kids in danger. They put them in a position to be outed to their peers who may not understand and their families who may not support them. Trans kids deserve safety. All kids deserve safety. Trans kids deserve to grow up. I vow to fight for trans kids to have access to the healthcare that they need, the right to privacy to come out to who they choose and when they choose it, and for books that show different kinds of families, genders, and races in schools and libraries. And I want them to know someone is fighting for them, so you tell them so if you know one.

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Protecting workers' rights

Missourians with a full-time job should be able to afford a place to live, food to eat, and money to spend on the small things that make life comfortable. They should also be able to stop working when they get older and still have all of the above. Unions have been incredibly important in making sure all workers have rights. Here in Missouri, our unions are the backbone of fighting for better worker pay, better benefits, and safer conditions. I vow to continue to support organized labor and against any efforts to weaken its pull. I also promise to champion all the workers who don’t have a union yet – for their right to fair living wages, their right to safety, and their right to organize without retaliation.

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Access to abortion

Women and girls should be able to decide what happens to their own bodies. I’m a proud signee and signature collector for the ballot initiative to bring abortion care back to Missouri. That’s not the end of the fight, though. I vow to fight for women against all the laws that Republicans put in place before Roe v Wade was overturned – laws that made abortion access inaccessible for many communities long before it was outlawed state-wide.

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Protecting voters' rights

One vote should count as one vote – for all of us. Republican lawmakers are trying to quickly and quietly pass an initiative that changes the way voices are heard in this state. A ballot initiative is a way for citizens to put an issue on the ballot instead of the lawmakers. We have seen it work to get our voices heard, with right-to-work, legalizing marijuana, and now abortion access. Our state constitution requires these initiatives to pass by a simple majority. Republican lawmakers support a change that would mean as little as 20% of the voters can overrule the other 80%. If they get their initiative on the ballot, I will actively campaign and organize against it now and any time they try in the future.

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With your help, we can build a better tomorrow for Missouri.