The “lower chamber” of the Minnesota legislature has two representatives per senate district for a total of 134. Representatives are elected every two years.What your state legislature does affects many facets of your life—the taxes you pay, the highways on which you drive, public schools, the state-supported colleges and universities you or your children might attend, the state parks that provide recreation for you and your family, social programs, funding for the judicial system.A candidate forum for this race is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j8unJ3585I. More MN forums are available at https://www.lwvmn.org/2024-candidate-forums.(A primary candidate forum for this race was held on July 17, 2024 - watch the recording here.)
Through my conversations with voters during this campaign, I’ve come to understand the shared concerns of community members in every precinct. This is what has shaped my top priorities to champion at the Capitol. Everyone cares deeply about the future success of this district, and agrees there’s critical work we need to do to achieve it: 1) Solutions for revitalizing Uptown and Downtown to build a thriving economy; 2) strengthening our struggling public schools in Minneapolis and across the state; and 3) addressing community safety through supporting violence prevention efforts and passing gun control legislation. By tackling these three things, we can build a more just, resilient, and thriving Minnesota starting right here at home.
“Mom and I are pinched,” is what a voter living with his disabled mother said about inflation and the rising cost of living. Minnesotans should be able to afford their lives. I will support antitrust laws to ensure a fair marketplace and fight monopolies. I will tackle algorithmic rent pricing used to price fix and prevent affordable rental rates. I will also work to stabilize rising property taxes by working to grow our tax base and ensure our city has the resources it needs to serve people.
Overcoming redlining is an important component of addressing racial disparities in housing. There’s no single solution, but to start I’d like to work to make housing accessible and affordable. That means legislation that encourages building an abundance of housing and to build the right homes in the right places. That includes filling in the missing middle housing options, making sure we have diverse housing types within neighborhoods for the diverse needs of the people of the district our state
I’ve worked on climate issues for over 15 years at the neighborhood, city, county, and state levels. I have drafted policies, which are now state law, and was part of creating Minnesota’s Climate Action Framework. Going forward, my priorities directly address our largest contributors to greenhouse gasses: buildings and transportation. Policies I’d support include improving building efficiency, transition to electric transportation, and advancing climate positive land use to prevent sprawl.
Health: Racial Justice is Healthcare. Climate and Environmental Justice is Healthcare. Socioeconomic Justice is Healthcare. Every policy, structure, and outcome ought to be viewed from the health standpoint.
Housing: I support unhoused neighbors in receiving dignified housing solutions. I support lifting the ban on rent control and I oppose large investors from buying houses en masse and turning would-be homeowners into renters.
Democracy:I support increased accountability and transparency at the State level. I support civic participation and the decision-making rights of my neighbors. Especially in increasing accessibility for low income folks, non-english speakers, green card holders, undocumented folks, disabled folks, and youth.
I support Universal Basic Income and Universal Single-Payer Healthcare. I also support making housing and housing upgrades deeply affordable. The largest costs and drivers of inflation tend to the basics; housing and health. We can create a more organized, cross-jurisdictional, effective healthcare system that also prioritizes public and preventative health while reducing costs. I also support shared ownership such as housing and worker cooperatives.
Universal Single-Payer Healthcare. Racial and ethnic disparities are felt most deeply in our disproportionate health outcomes.
Minnesota’s largest sector for carbon emissions (not counting Scope 3 emissions) and also our greatest opportunity for carbon sequestration is agriculture. I support incentivizing soil health practices, increasing funding for research and scaling new crops, promoting farmer and worker ownership of renewable energy through cooperatives, strengthening antitrust laws, and shifting subsidies away from feed and fuel (like soybean) toward food that feeds people.
