Click on a priority to learn more:

• Bringing Down Healthcare Costs

  I have taken on the big pharmaceutical companies and won, demanding that they lower the cost of insulin for Washington residents and working to lower the cost of health care for all of us. Our national healthcare system is complicated and expensive, but Washington has made serious progress on ensuring every resident of our state has access to the care we need. I’ll keep working to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare while lowering your costs.

  That’s why big pharmaceutical companies and big tobacco are spending record amounts of money to support my opponent, sending out mailers and TV ads lying about my record. I work for you, not them, and they know it.

• Fixing our Housing Market

  People are seeing 50% rent increases and homeownership feels impossible for many. We haven’t built enough housing, especially in cities. This is an affordability and an environmental challenge that requires data-driven solutions and an economic mindset to tackle. When cities make it too difficult to build, people bid up homes in rural areas too. 

  We are in this together and I want to spend the next four years in the State Senate figuring out how to build more homes, especially in cities, so that everyone in Whatcom County can benefit from a vibrant economy and affordable housing.

• Safe Communities

  Everyone should feel safe in their home and community. Everyone. Instead of making your safety political, I want a solid plan that will make Whatcom County safer. I met with stakeholders in law enforcement, corrections, the courts, mental health, substance use disorder treatment, public health, homelessness services, and more. We discussed what’s missing and how to hold criminals accountable, protect victims, and reduce criminality before it starts. Please take a look at my plan and let me know what you think! (To be published soon)

  My goal is justice that is swift, certain, and fair. My plan includes specific things I can take to the State Senate next year for immediate action plus long-term, thoughtful measures to make sure we are safe, at a reasonable cost.

  My commitment to safe streets and neighborhoods in the face of a national rise in many crimes is unwavering, and I’m proud to have voted for:

  • Law enforcement pay raises and benefit improvements;
  • Doubling the number of training opportunities for new officers– (and our
  • academies are already full!);
  • Expansion of behavior health programs that help people in crisis, aid in addiction
  • recovery, and address crime at the source;
  • Increased penalties for catalytic converter theft and resale;
  • Stronger gun laws– keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous or vulnerable people.

  For more details, read my full Public Safety Plan:

  My Public Safety Plan

• Lowering Your Taxes

  Most of us non-billionaires pay too much in taxes and I have a record of successfully cutting taxes in the State House for seniors on fixed incomes, working people, and low- and middle-income people. My opponent and his allies have tried to twist my record but here are the facts:

  1. In 2019, I lowered taxes on home sales for most homes in Whatcom County! If you sell your house for less than $1.5 million, you will pay less in Real Estate Excise Taxes and I think that’s a good thing. For more expensive homes, sellers pay slightly more. That number – $1.5-million – will go up over time as housing prices rise. For nearly everyone in Whatcom County, your taxes are lower!
  2. This year, I helped eliminate the B&O tax for small “mom-and-pop” businesses with less than $125,000 in revenue! As an economist I know that making it easier to start a business is a great thing for communities.
  3. I helped pass the Working Families Tax Rebate, one of the most effective ways to support low-income families, improve outcomes for children, and encourage work. Starting in 2023, families in Washington State will see rebates up to $1,200.
  4. Unlike my opponent, I voted to fund local schools and I believe rich people need to pay their fair share. That’s why I supported the Capital Gains Tax, which taxes profits of OVER $250,000 in stock sales in one year. Only the wealthiest citizens will pay this and funds go to education. My opponent says this is an “income tax.” It’s not. 
• Protecting Your Freedom to Choose

  Let me be clear: politicians have no place making your personal medical decisions for you. I will fight to protect your freedom to make your own reproductive choices. I helped pass a bill in 2022 that reaffirms Washington’s commitment to choice, but my opponent voted against it. My opponent doesn’t trust you to make these decisions yourself and has been an anti-abortion activist since high school. 

• Access to Affordable, High-Quality Child Care

  Every child deserves a fair shot. Investments in early childhood pay huge dividends later in life, but Whatcom has 5,000 fewer childcare slots than we need. Our state government can help fill this gap where the private market is failing. I’ve written and passed bills to improve access to childcare, including the Rural Childcare Access Act of 2020. I have also funded projects to create more childcare here in Whatcom County and will continue to champion this in the Senate — I won’t stop until every kid has a fair shot.

• More Mental Health Services

  I’m proud to have secured funding for new facilities in Whatcom including the Whatcom Crisis Stabilization Center and the Way Station which are already built as well as others in the planning stages. These are critical to prevent mental health crises from spiraling out of control and helping our loved ones get the help they need. I also was proud to vote for a new mental and behavioral health training hospital at UW so that we can start filling the gap in mental health professionals. 

  More is needed. I will immediately get to work in the State Senate to bring in the funding we need to add new Mental health facilities at the scale we need, including secure and not secure in-patient facilities to tackle the diverse mental health needs of our community. 

• Building Roads, Bridges, and Broadband

  Whatcom is a small business county and I’m fighting to keep it that way. And businesses depend on reliable infrastructure.  I’m proud to have brought record new investments in infrastructure home from Olympia, including raising our roads up above flood levels, upgrading our bridges to support our local industries, and laying fiber so that our rural communities can access fast internet and run modern businesses from home. 

• Investing in Flood Plain Improvements

  As soon as it was safe to travel after this year’s floods, I joined work crews in Everson, Nooksack and Sumas to help repair homes, fix yards, clear away damaged property, feed our neighbors, and even just be there for friends who needed help. Their stories lit a fire in my heart. Rep Alicia Rule and I worked on a plan to get short-term assistance including funding for recovery, small business support, agricultural assistance, and other resources. 

  The 2021 floods made it clear that we needed to focus flood risk mitigation efforts on the portions of the river where flooding was most severe, specifically the area near Everson where the Nooksack River jumps its banks. This is a local, state, federal and international issue with a number of political and technical challenges, so I was proud to get $750,000 in the budget to begin the process of planning for long-term flood risk mitigation. This is only the downpayment for a much larger investment.

• Strong Public Education for a Strong Workforce

  I support a strong, well-funded public education system. I have two kids in our Whatcom County public schools right now and I love watching them get excited about learning. Every kid deserves high quality, age-appropriate education from birth through vocational school or college.

• Sustainable Farms and Fields

  You may know I’m an economist but you might not know that my specialty is in Agricultural and Natural Resources! That’s why I’m so passionate about working with farmers to get their goods to market and why I work on climate change. Click here to hear from a Whatcom County farmer I worked with on changing regulations to get his bacon to market!

  In Olympia I’m the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Rural Development, Agriculture, and Natural Resources. We have more work ahead of us to ensure water users have reliable access to water, our farmers are prepared for the impacts of climate change, and we’re protecting farmland against sprawl. I’m excited to do that work in the State Senate.

• Common Sense Gun Safety Laws

  Because of our strong, fair gun safety laws, Washington has the twelfth lowest rate of deaths by firearms in the US. But we can do better. I want our kids to be safe at school, our families safe at movies, concerts and shopping malls, and our police safe on the job. The majority of gun owners nationwide support strong, smart gun safety laws—and I do too.

• An Economy that Works for Everyone

  Inflation has been really tough. For too many of our neighbors, price jumps mean they have to choose between gas or food or bills or rent. 

  This year I’ve worked to fix our supply chains, build more affordable housing, and create jobs here in Whatcom. Now, I want to take my background as an economist to the State Senate to help ensure we’re doing everything we can to get our economy back on track, especially here at home.

• Good Jobs Across Whatcom County

  As a mom and an economist, thinking about how to bring more good jobs to Whatcom for our future is one of my favorite things to do —responsibly restarting Intalco, investing in infrastructure, local careers in solar, helping farmers plan for the long term, and fixing supply chain problems.