The people of Wisconsin deserve access to high-quality comprehensive reproductive healthcare. We will not be limited by an 1849 law, passed at a time before women’s suffrage. I will be your champion for reproductive justice in the State Assembly, just as I have been a reproductive justice champion throughout my career.

Our infant mortality rates and our maternal morbidity and mortality rates in our communities of color are alarming and demand urgent action.  I worked on improving Wisconsin’s birth outcomes when I served as the Program Advisor for Maternal & Child Health for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health (UW SMPH). I supported nonprofits and public health departments around the state who do the most important work for our mothers and infants. Programs that provide doula and lactation support, home visiting, group prenatal and postpartum care, mobile unit outreach, lactation support, substance use management and support, mental and behavioral health programs, and connection. There is so much we can share across communities on what is working for women and children. The legislature must support these efforts rather than working against women’s health. At the end of the 2024 legislative session, our State Assembly had the opportunity to extend postpartum care to 12 months which would have provided support for mothers during this critical time.  Despite overwhelming bi-partisan support and passage of the bill in the Wisconsin State Senate, the Assembly still chose inaction over progress.  Today, after months of strategic maneuvering and forcing our Republican colleagues to vote on the legislation, we were able to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage in my first term. Finally, new moms will be covered for one year after giving birth to our newest Wisconsinite - improving healthcare for more than 16,000 moms annually and approximately 40% of births in Wisconsin.

Without access to reproductive healthcare, Wisconsinites are put into impossible situations that lead to poor health outcomes not only for pregnant people and mothers, but also for their children and families. It is imperative that we challenge and fight against the agenda of the Republicans to roll back women’s fundamental rights. There is still much work to do to improve our maternal and child health outcomes across the state. 

Public education in Wisconsin has continued to be underfunded and underserved by our state government, while needed funds are drained off to unaccountable private schools.  

As a prior board member for the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, I know first-hand how critical it is for our young people to receive a quality education early in their lives. Wisconsin must support a public school system that is fully funded and that begins with a strong early childhood system that is fully funded.

When we provide quality educational opportunities for our young people, we are investing in our community. The future of our democracy, our environment and our community rests upon our public education. Thank you for trusting me as your State Representative, to support our teachers, staff, and students, because we know that our future depends public schools.  

The refusal to create a BadgerCare Public Option in our state is a policy failure. The decision to not expand healthcare access has kept many Wisconsin families from receiving affordable healthcare, and has perpetuated racial disparities in our healthcare system. As a Program Advisor for Maternal & Child Health, I saw firsthand how this policy decision has impacted working families. Too many Wisconsinites are underinsured, and could be covered under a BadgerCare Public Option.

Together, we are working to expand our current Family & Medical Leave Program so that workers can receive 14 weeks of paid leave in case of a medical/family emergency or when welcoming a new child.

Protecting the environment is critical to ensuring the health of our future generations. Our children deserve to grow up in an environment that is clean and sustainable, not polluted and exploited. 

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Public Health & Medicine I have worked on issues of racial health disparities, and extensive research has shown that the impacts of pollution and climate change disproportionately affect communities of color.

In my first term we finally released dollars to clean up PFAS in Wisconsin water and hold polluters accountable. I have proudly championed initiatives to protect our state’s valued natural resources and legacy of environmental conservation. We have much work needed to transition our power supply away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable, renewable, energy resources. 

Firearm violence has caused an incalculable amount of harm on American families. Every day without action is another day where we lose children to senseless violence and the ripple effects permeate all of our lives. Together we are working to expand safe storage laws, and other common-sense legislation to end gun violence, like background checks for firearm purchases, Extreme Risk Protection Orders, and adding regulations on “ghost guns.”

As the Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, I led an agenda to end gun violence. I worked with groups including SandyHook Promise, which I collaborated with and testified alongside for the passage of a Child Access Prevention (CAP) law. It is a commonsense policy that other states, even Republican dominated states, were able to implement. While Wisconsin has a similar law, we have work to do to ensure it is improved.

Protecting Wisconsinites from the chaos of the Trump Administration’s unlawful actions has been a prime focus of mine. Since innaguration, Trump has tried multiple times to unlawfully claw back public dollars from Wisconsin communities. From Republican attacks on public broadcasting to jeopardizing gold star childcare programs like Head Start, Wisconsinites deserve government that they can rely on. It is time for policies that work for the people, not the billionaires.

At the core of our Democracy is our elections. People deserve to choose their representatives and cast their vote with confidence; representatives should not be able to choose their constituents or cause unlawful chaos in our electoral process.

Together we are prioritizing the protection and improvement of our democratic process. I am championing policies for non-partisan redistricting, overturning Citizens United, and enacting automatic voter registration for every eligible voter. Together, we can ensure that our democracy is representative to the will of the people.