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A patient, and a doctor... NO ONE else belongs in the decision regarding what someone does with their body. I will fight to maintain the access to abortion healthcare in our state, and push the legislature to put that right into our state's constitution. I would also like to expand access to our rural communities, because no one should have to travel far to receive healthcare.

In our legislative district, most of the gun owners are responsible and deserve the right to bear arms. I am one of those people. I live in the woods, and I have livestock to protect. However, as a teacher, I have also experienced the terror of being in a lockdown situation. I have received training on how to react to an active shooter, including where to safely hide my students, how to launch an attack if a shooter was able to break into my classroom, and how to triage injuries and stop bleeding wounds. There is no reason why high-capacity cartridges or semi-automatic weapons belong in a peaceful society. Guns are tools, not toys... and they should be treated as such.

We need to put laws in place that keep corporate entities from buying up real estate that should be available to people who live and work in our communities. Small businesses cannot find enough employees because families cannot afford to live here. We also need to put safeguards in place to ensure that landlords cannot raise rent beyond the cost of living. Other states on the West coast have laws dictating a percentage that landlords can raise rent... why can't we?

As an experienced, effective teacher, I have witnessed the inequities and injustices in our education system first-hand. I have watched while our school district has to go begging to our already-strapped community to pass levies and bonds in order to maintain our facilities and staffing. Funding for public schools should not have to burden the property owners in their local communities. It should come from the state level, and funding models should not be solely based upon the needs of large, urban districts. The rural perspective needs to be acknowledged and honored.

YES. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and employers should not be burdened with providing benefits to their employees. Workers should not have to worry about taking a job that may not have benefits. For that reason, I fully support I-1471, which would create a state healthcare plan that would cover all residents. Please check it out at https://wholewashington.org/ Sign a petition and get this life-changing initiative on our ballot!

We are a special place in the world. We rely upon our natural resources to provide jobs. Climate change is very real, and we are already seeing the devastating effects on our landscape. However, any solutions we devise should not alienate our timber, shellfish and fishing industries. These industries are at the heart of what we are in this legislative district, and we cannot enact climate change initiatives without also protecting the families that depend upon those industries. Timber families, shellfish families and fishing families go back for generations; these generations of people are what make us unique and strong, and must be protected.

The Chinook Nation (Cathlamet, Clatsop, Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum, and Willapa tribes) have been on this land since time immemorial, and have been stewards of the precious resources we are all privileged to enjoy. The fact that the Chinook Nation is still trying to achieve federal recognition simply shows the systemic racism and indigenous erasure that our country has experienced since its founding. We are fortunate that recent events have gotten us closer to recognition, but we still need help. Please learn more at https://chinookjustice.org/tribal-recognition/ and do your part to bring #chinookjustice.