Priorities

Reinvest in Public Education

Our kids and teachers deserve better than what they have today. For the last thirty years, Republicans have systematically defunded our K-12 and higher education systems, leading to statewide programming cuts, criminally low teacher salaries, and exponential increases in tuition costs for public university students.

We need public accountability for public dollars, not reckless spending that jeopardizes the safety of students and the security of our state's general fund.

As a legislator, I would eliminate the universal voucher system so we can stop wasting our tax dollars on private schools for the wealthy. Next I would push to increase diversion and reentry programs as well as to expand probation to reallocate some of the over $1.6 billion we currently spend every year on incarceration towards education instead. Finally, I would work to re-establish a progressive tax system, close state tax loopholes, increase corporate taxes, and impose an additional tax on the 15 billionaires currently living in Arizona to generate additional revenue for public education.

We must also freeze public university tuition rates, fully fund the Arizona Promise Program, and allow public workers including teachers and staff to participate in collective bargaining.

Make Housing Affordable

Housing prices are too damn high for both renters and first-time homebuyers. Many working people today live only one serious health problem away from financial ruin.

As a former renter and first-time home buyer, I believe that affordable and sustainable housing is a universal right. The state legislature needs to invest in measures like Arizona's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program and the Arizona Department of Housing. We also need lawmakers who will even the playing field for renters and landlords by allowing cities to enact rent control, put caps on security deposits, and provide legal counsel to defendants in eviction court.

Landlords who are already fair to their tenants and do not take advantage of current state law will not be affected by these changes. Instead, these policies will target corporate landlords who have spent too long making huge profit margins at the expense of their tenants.

Protect Our Water, Land and Air

It feels like every year is hotter than the year before--and that's because it is. Tucson and Phoenix average temperatures are expected to rise at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 50 years. And what do companies like Amazon want to do? Build mega data centers here in the desert that will use what little water we have, pushing huge amounts of heat into local neighborhoods.

Arizona is home to hundreds of unique bird, fish and insect species whose natural habitats are threatened by low watersheds, mining projects, and border wall construction. The same corporations harming our wildlife are also hiking up our utility rates.

To protect our environment, and our wallets, the state legislature must invest in renewable and alternative energy like wind, solar and nuclear. They must publicly encourage cities to switch to public power utility models. In 2026, we need representatives who believe in a renewable future and cannot be bought by corporate utility companies. I support any efforts to impose a moratorium on building any future data centers or mining projects until environmental impact studies are completed and submitted to affected communities for review.

Worker Power

Workers are the lifeblood of the economy, and right now they are struggling more than ever with a cost of living crisis, increased gas prices and rising healthcare costs. The "American Dream" is further away than it's ever been before for working people.

Workers have very few rights in Arizona due to "Right to Work" laws. Arizona workers do not have to join their company's union, and employers retain the right to fire their workers for any reason. What does this mean in practice? The role of unions has been undermined, since workers can choose whether or not to join. The workers who do not join still benefit from the union's collective bargaining, but the union is overall weaker from lack of participation and buy-in. Meanwhile, the union has few methods of recourse to challenge firings. This situation is even worse for public workers like public school teachers, public university staff and state administrators who are not allowed to enter into collective bargaining agreements at all.

As a state legislator, my top priority is to empower our unions by repealing these "Right to Work" laws and allowing public workers to enter into collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, I will support measures to protect workers from heat conditions and encroachment from AI learning models. I will also advocate for state requirements to use union labor for public construction and housing projects.

Protect Medicaid and SNAP

For more than sixty years, Medicaid and SNAP have provided hundreds of millions of US citizens with the healthcare and food they need to survive. The majority of people enrolled in these benefits are retired, children, caretakers, or disabled and unable to work. Although I have never benefited from these programs myself, I have spoken with dozens of voters on the doors who depend on these services. Parents and grandparents have shared with me their recent experiences of losing their benefits, and their everyday struggle to put food on the table for their families.

The Trump administration is phasing out programs like Medicaid and SNAP in an effort to "reduce waste and fraud" in government spending. Starting this year, states must reduce instances of fraud by making enrollment requirements more stringent. Since our Republican-majority state legislature is intent on licking the boots of the federal government, Arizona now has the largest percentage decline in SNAP participants in the nation. These increased eligibility and residency requirements for SNAP and Medicaid will cost state tax payers tens of millions of dollars to implement.

As a democratic socialist, I believe that everyone has the equal right to healthcare and food, regardless of their socio-economic background. Our government has the ethical and legal obligation to provide meals and medical care to everyone, but especially to the less fortunate. Non-profit organizations do not have the capacity to serve tens of thousands of people, but the government does. Universal aid and healthcare creates an overall more healthy and safe society where working people have time to flourish instead of having to focus on survival.

Stop ICE

The inaction of both major political parties on federal immigration policy has created the perfect conditions in which ICE thrives today. Immigrants continue to be framed as dangerous criminals, when in fact they have lower crime rates compared to US citizens. For example, the majority of US fentanyl is smuggled across the border by US citizens. We forget that immigrants are often from countries that were destabilized by the US, creating poor economies and unsafe conditions that forced families to make impossible decisions. Additionally, our economy is wholly dependent on both migrant labor and the revenue from immigrants paying their taxes. Southern Arizona has a particularly diverse immigration culture which is reflected in our food and local community events like Tucson Meet Yourself.

An attack on immigrants is an attack on our community. The state legislature is our last line of defense from what we've already seen in places like Chicago and Minnesota where immigrants and citizens alike are attacked, detained and even killed on the streets. Our state is ethically and legally obligated to protect all its residents from federal overreach. That means state and local police should not assist ICE in making arrests. ICE should not be allowed to enter state or county property like courthouses, jails, or hospitals. ICE should not be allowed to enter places of worship, schools, parks, or any public or community spaces. Residents should not be punished for using their First Amendment right to speak out against injustice perpetrated by ICE. Anyone in immigration court should have the legal right to representation - something the state legislature can enshrine in our state constitution.

We must recognize and stand up for the inherent value of immigrants, whether they came to the US with permission or not. Instead of building and policing walls, we should push our federal representatives to overhaul the immigration system to make it easier and safer for immigrants to travel to the US and to become citizens.

Fuck ICE. Defund ICE.

LGBTQ+ Solidarity

Our queer community, and particularly our trans siblings, have experienced an uptick in federal and state attacks on their personal rights. It's not just books being banned from libraries and schools. Again and again, we see Republicans crafting legislation to police bodies, especially trans bodies.

Instead of banning surgeries, hormone therapy, or puberty blockers, legislators instead ban trans people from having access to these treatments. Hormone therapy was originally developed to treat women going through menopause - you would never see a cis woman denied access to such a critical need. Cis children experiencing "precocious puberty" have immediate access to the puberty blockers they need to make their sexual development more physically and emotionally comfortable. Trans children and adults have been singled out and discriminated against because their sexual development and social transition conflict with "traditional" socially conservative and male-dominating norms. Lawmakers have taken it upon themselves to decide what trans people should and should not be able to do with their own bodies. This condescending and unjust way of thinking has made many Democrats betray their own values of equity and equality by throwing trans people under the bus in an attempt to appeal to "moderate" voters.

We must advocate for equal access to healthcare for everyone, regardless of a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. If we allow bullies to continue dictating what trans people can and cannot do with their bodies, it will only be a matter of time before other bodies are also subjected to a police state. Bodily autonomy must be for everyone, otherwise no one truly has it.