VOTE411 Voter Guide

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Affordability & Economic Stability: Families across our country are working harder than ever but still struggling to afford housing, groceries, healthcare, and childcare. Through my work with Young & Gifted, Inc., I’ve worked directly with families facing housing insecurity, food insecurity, and barriers to opportunity. We must lower costs by expanding affordable housing, supporting small businesses, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and investing in workforce development and education.

Healthcare: Healthcare should not be a privilege. I support strengthening the Affordable Care Act, lowering prescription drug costs, expanding mental health services, protecting reproductive healthcare, and ensuring veterans, seniors, and working families have access to quality, affordable care.

Restoring Trust in Democracy: We must rebuild trust by investing in violence prevention, youth opportunities, community partnerships, and protecting voting rights through education, advocacy and activis

The federal government has a critical responsibility to protect the integrity, transparency, and fairness of our elections. Democracy should belong to the people — not just to wealthy donors, corporations, or special interests with unlimited financial influence. I believe we need stronger campaign finance laws, greater transparency in political spending, and safeguards that ensure everyday Americans have a meaningful voice in the political process. Voters deserve to know who is funding campaigns and political advertisements so they can make informed decisions. At the same time, we must protect free speech rights while addressing the reality that excessive money in politics can drown out the voices of working families and communities that already struggle to be heard. The goal should be restoring trust in government by creating a system where elected officials are accountable to the people they serve not primarily to those with the largest checkbooks.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais is disgraceful and represents another painful step backward in the ongoing struggle to protect voting rights in America. Generations of my Ancestors marched, fought, bled, and died to ensure that every citizen especially Black Americans who were systematically excluded from the political process had fair representation and equal access to the ballot box. Weakening protections under the Voting Rights Act dishonors that legacy and threatens the foundation of our democracy. Fair representation should not be treated as partisan strategy; it is a civil rights issue and a moral issue. At a time when many communities already feel unheard and disconnected from government, we should be strengthening trust in our democracy, not creating barriers that dilute the voices of marginalized communities. I will continue to support efforts to restore and strengthen voting rights protections, expand access to the ballot, and ensure all are represented.

I believe we must proactively address this challenge with practical, balanced solutions that protect both our environment and our economy.

The federal government should invest in modern infrastructure, clean energy innovation, resilient power grids, safe drinking water systems, and disaster preparedness. We must support research and workforce development that creates good-paying jobs in renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, and environmental technology.

At the same time, we should help local communities, farmers, and small businesses adapt to changing conditions while protecting natural resources for future generations. Addressing climate change is not just an environmental issue, it is an economic, public health, and national security priority.

The United States has a responsibility to remain a strong and principled leader in the global community by supporting international institutions that promote peace, security, human rights, and cooperation. Organizations such as the United Nations, NATO, and the International Criminal Court play important roles in preventing conflict, strengthening alliances, addressing humanitarian crises, and holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable. I support America working collaboratively with our allies while also protecting our national interests and democratic values. NATO remains critical to global stability and collective defense, especially in times of growing international threats. The UN provides a platform for diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and international problem-solving that can help prevent costly conflicts. Institutions focused on international justice should ensure fairness, accountability, and respect for sovereignty while standing firm against genocide, and war crimes.

Affordability is an overriding concern among all Americans. High prices erode purchasing power, strain household budgets, and slow economic growth. We face an existential crisis in climate change, and undergirding these ongoing issues is the prevalence of corporate money in politics.

To address affordability in general, I would reallocate funding of the Military Industrial Complex and the carceral state toward programs for social uplift.

With respect to health care, I would cosponsor and work to advance Medicare For All, accepting lesser measures such as restoration of Medicaid funding as a stopgap.

For housing affordability, the federal government plays a key role in funding development, so can stimulate supply by providing incentives to developers to invest in affordable housing. I'd work to combat climate change by incorporating incentives to make that housing climate-resilient, and also support grant and loan programs to invest in green infrastructure (wind, solar, batteries).

The Federal Election Commision (FEC) regulates campaign finance law, which limits contributions to candidates and imposes disclosure requirements so the funding sources and recipients of campaign expenditures are made publicly available.

Unfortunately, the infamous 5-4 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC largely defanged the FEC's regulatory power by ruling that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on political communication. Since that ruling, SuperPACs and dark money groups have flooded the airwaves, undermining our democracy.

On Constitution Day 2025 (Sep. 17, 2025), members of Congress including Rep. Summer Lee, Sen. Adam Schiff, Rep. Ro Khanna, and others introduced a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

As a stopgap, lesser measure that may be more achievable, I would cosponsor and advocate for passage of the Abolish Super PACs Act, which would limit donations to SuperPACs to $5,000 per calendar year.

In 2022, I led the Crescent Map Coalition demanding that my County's decennial redistricting be compliant with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and, meeting significant resistance from my Democratic County Executive and most of the Democratic caucus of the County Legislature, filed a lawsuit to compel majority-Black districts to shore up the rights of Black voters in Monroe County. The County backed down and drew six (6) majority-Black districts. It was the specter of the Supreme Court striking down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act that motivated the time pressure in our action.

Fortunately, now that we have the districts in place, and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act as New York law, Monroe County is now a preclearance jurisdiction where proposed changes to the voting districts will have to be reviewed by New York's Office of the Attorney General.

As a member of Congress, I would work to advance voting rights of marginalized communities everywhere.

We can find one good model in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-era bill that did the most to combat climate change. As Councilmember of the Town of Brighton, I worked to secure funding from such federal sources to refurbish buildings to be carbon-neutral.

In addition, we need more federal funding of Centers of Excellence for research and development of new technologies, and we must enact policies to reduce fossil fuel reliance by the U.S. military, which accounts for almost 80% of all fuel consumption by the federal government.

The U.S. was involved in the creation of all of these institutions, and has been one of the primary beneficiaries of the resulting stability and economic growth it has facilitated between the U.S. and its strategic partners.

As a first-order concern, the U.S. should reinstate Trump's funding cuts to the U.N. and rejoin agencies such as UNRWA. But our aspirations should go far beyond restoring the dubious status quo that pertained.

The U.S. must lead by example in abiding by international law, and its own laws that govern international relations. Those responsible for Trump's war crimes should be held accountable.

he U.S. should stop funding Israel until it changes course in carrying out actions that have been widely condemned as genocide. Our failure to curb support for Israel despite its well-documented war crimes in Gaza, have emboldened Israel to expand those activities to the West Bank and Lebanon.