Occupation / Current Position
Attorney
Education
Juris Doctor - 2013 - University of Michigan Law School; Bachelor of Arts - Economics & Business and History - 2010 - Kalamazoo College
Qualifications and Experience
United States Army Veteran (Active Duty, 2019-2026); Attorney (Miller Canfield Detroit, 2013-2019); Environmental Activist (Sierra Club, 2013-2019)
Michigan’s education system has many dedicated teachers and strong local schools, but overall student outcomes, literacy rates, and teacher retention remain serious concerns. I support fully and fairly funding public schools, with additional support for districts facing greater economic and special education challenges. We must invest in teacher recruitment and retention through competitive pay and reduced administrative burdens. Standardized testing should be limited to measuring progress and accountability, not driving classroom instruction. I also support expanding and broadening career and technical education opportunities for students.
I champion policies that help working families keep more of what they earn and build economic security. That includes ensuring everyone earns a livable wage, supporting small businesses, expanding workforce training and skilled trades programs, investing in infrastructure that creates good-paying jobs, and protecting worker rights. We must also address affordability by increasing access to affordable housing, lowering prescription drug, utility, and childcare costs, and ensuring Michigan’s tax policies are fair for working families and seniors. Economic growth should benefit workers and local communities, not just large corporations.
Michigan must pursue an energy strategy that is reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible. I support an all of the above approach that strengthens our electric grid, protects consumers from rising costs, and expands clean energy. This includes demanding better reliability and lower prices from DTE and Consumers. We must ensure infrastructure is modernized to prevent outages and improve reliability. I also support protecting our clean air, the Great Lakes, and natural resources while creating good-paying energy and manufacturing jobs here in Michigan by partnering with developers and enforcing common-sense regulations.
I believe constitutional rights, including due process, free speech, and protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, apply to all people and must be upheld fairly and consistently. If anyone rights are violated, all of our rights are at risk! Public safety, the rule of law, government accountability and transparency, and individual liberties are all equally essential to a healthy democracy. I support policies that protect civil rights, ensure transparency in law enforcement and government actions, and maintain equal treatment under the law while keeping our communities safe.
Occupation / Current Position
Attorney/state representative
Education
BA, MA, PhD- Political Science; JD- Law
Qualifications and Experience
Attorney- over 40 years; Extensive experience: City Council- 12 years; Community College Board- 12 years; State Representative- now fourth year. I have been involved in homeowners, youth sports, etc.
The current educational system has failed our students. Michigan now rates 44th in the nation, after being as high as 16th in the last 20 years. Too much money has gone to administration, too little to the classrooms. We must refocus our efforts on literacy, reading and math, in K-12. In particular, we need to ensure that our students are at grade level for reading by third grade. If students can’t read, they are unlikely to succeed at higher levels of education, or in the evolving employment world. In addition, we need to provide alternative education routes to skilled trade jobs, which are in huge demand in our emerging economy.
We need to create more and better high-paying jobs. Too much of the focus in recent years has been on government handouts. We want our citizens working and contributing to their family’s welfare and our economy, not getting government checks. We have great citizens and great businesses. We now have unlimited opportunities with our strong auto base to expand into new technologies and new areas like defense contracting. I have worked hard in Lansing to help further economic progress: by cutting utility rates, tax rates, and unnecessary and costly state regulations-- which have burdened our citizens and our businesses for way too long.
We have a crisis in Michigan—massively increasing energy costs with drastically reduced energy reliability. We came very close to a blackout on one of the coldest days last January. And, the problem with blackouts is only going to increase. The cause is ridiculous and unsustainable government mandates requiring energy companies to be totally reliant on solar and wind— eliminating any use of natural gas or coal. Natural gas and coal, along with nuclear power, are easily the most affordable and most reliable energy sources. I have voted to rescind the outrageous government mandates, to reduce our costs and increase our energy reliability
We need to fix our immigration laws to improve legal immigration. Unfortunately, Biden allowed 5-6 million people to skip past all the legal requirements for immigration and enter our country illegally. That allowed lawbreakers to skip the line and get in front of those millions who have applied lawfully to become citizens and who should come first. We need to do whatever we can to assure fair and swift processing of lawful immigration. Our nation is built on immigrants: People coming to America to pursue their dream of opportunity and reward for hard work. I support legal immigrants- they have had a hugely positive impact in our state.
