We cannot wait any longer for critical highway projects in our district. We must finish widening SR 522 and fix US 2 now, fully fund the Confluence Parkway, and fund SR 18 from Tiger Mountain to the Hobart Road. It is time to stop pushing these critical needs until somewhere in the future and get our district’s fair share of highway funding now. We need these investments not just to stop the endless hours of our lives disappearing to traffic delays, but also to improve the safety of our aging roads and bridges and because investing in our economy improves improves freight mobility and shipment of Washington agricultural products to port, attracts clean energy and emerging industry jobs, and improves workforce training.

I’ve worked with some of the largest and most successful corporations in the world to bring programs to scale, manage resources, and deliver results. I am excited to bring these skills to Olympia to invest in our state’s economy and workforce– uniting central and western Washington around shared values of good jobs in construction, agriculture, and clean energy markets, and communities that support good schools and housing affordable for all who want to call them home.

We have an affordable housing crisis in our district. Workers can’t afford to live where they work – teachers, firefighters, nurses, etc., and too many kids live with housing insecurity. We need better prioritization and efficiency in how state resources are dedicated to affordable housing for workers,  young families and seniors.

This means smart land use laws, efficient and predictable permitting that allows for greater affordability, incentives and subsidies for workforce and low income housing, and truly working alongside local governments to help people in crisis off of our streets and into drug treatment, mental health support, and other emergency shelter and services.

As a father of two who as a child experienced poverty, housing insecurity, and lived for a time in foster care, caring for kids and investing in public education is both personal and a policy priority for me.

We need to ensure that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential in our state– with access to great schools, nutritious food, and loving homes. Yet we underfund our schools and have consistently allowed vulnerable kids to slip through the cracks.. I want every child to have a healthy start and strong outcomes, and that means we must get beyond soundbites of support for children and education and back up our values with effective investments needed to help every kid succeed.

As a small city councilmember on the edge of King County I have had a front row seat to recent policing challenges, from adequate staffing amidst recruiting difficulties, officer uncertainty about community support and changing and sometimes impractical procedure expectations, and the need for trained resources to respond to people in crisis with mental health and substance abuse issues. I believe that nothing is more important than ensuring that we are safe from harm.

Strong public safety involves investing in our community to reduce the motivations of crime and building a culture of trust between law enforcement and the community. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their community, and I will work to create an environment where everyone is protected and respected.

With threats to abortion rights and reproductive health continuing to escalate in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs decision, I am running to ensure that women maintain the freedom to control their personal and medical decisions. Despite being a state that protects women’s healthcare rights, there is no protection in our state constitution ensuring the right to choose.  As a result, other states are attempting to reach into Washington to circumvent our protections and prosecute actions legal in Washington, but not in their state.

One of the clearest contrasts in this race is my unflinching commitment to reproductive health care and rights. The last two years have made it clear that we can take nothing for granted at the state or federal level, and we need champions in Olympia to fight for the rights and liberty of Washington women.