VOTE411 Voter Guide

Affordability, energy, and improving quality of life for our residents by restoring public safety.

Eliminate unrealistic and costly climates that dramtaically increase costs, compromise the reliability of our grid, and deny consumers the choice of how they want to heat their homes and cook their food.

I would support mandating antisemitism training at higher education institutions, ensure no taxpayer money is granted to colleges or universities authorizing, facilitating, or funding any event promoting antisemitism on campus. I would also support the enactment of the “Not on Our Dollar” plan that prevents non-profits from supporting Hamas or terrorist-supporting nations and allows for civil penalties/private right of action for violations.

I would seek to develop legislative safeguards, and/or potentially constitutiional amendments, to ensure the New York State Legislature can not continue to disregard and refuse to adhere to the state legislative and congressional district boundaries prepared by the bi-partisan New York State Independent Redistricting Commission.

My top priorities if elected are to pass universal health care, bring affordable child care to Erie County, pass legislation that will ensure our electrical grid is improved, strength the AI data center moratorium, and pass legislation to regulate automatic license plate readers, like Flock, in our community.

Families in Cheektowaga, Lancaster, Depew and Sloan heat drafty, often older homes while the same streets flood and lose power in storms our infrastructure was never built for. I'd cut energy costs in the homes we already have by supporting the NY HEAT Act, scale up weatherization programs so working families and seniors can use them without fronting thousands, and sign the SUNNY Act so renters can plug in solar and cut their own bill. Second, I'd supporting state support for stormwater and sewer capacity, creek and culvert work, and grid hardening where it hits first. Third, ensure electrical grid buildout is union work: prevailing wage, project labor agreements and apprenticeships attached to it all, and AI data centers paying their own way instead of shifting costs onto ratepayers.

Tying health insurance to your job means people in low-wage work without benefits go uninsured, and here that falls hardest on Black and immigrant workers. I support the New York Health Act so coverage follows the person instead of the employer and reaches everyone regardless of immigration status. Child care is the same fight. When care costs more than rent, mothers leave the workforce and never recover those earnings, and single mothers of color absorb most of that loss. I'd expand subsidy eligibility, pay providers by enrollment, and raise wages for a workforce that is almost entirely women. Renters need real protection. Eviction filings cluster in the same neighborhoods redlining drew, and one filing follows a family for years. I'd push every town in the 143rd to adopt Good Cause Eviction, fund a right to counsel in eviction court, and back the Housing Access Voucher Program. Each of these decides who gets a stable life, and right now that still breaks down by race.

The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, passed in 2022, bans practices that dilute the voting power of communities of color, requires certain jurisdictions to get approval before changing voting rules, and strengthens language access. I would make sure this law is fully funded and ensures events like Louisiana v Callais cannot happen in our state.