VOTE411 Voter Guide

I have lived in my home for 22 years and have never felt my representatives, represented me or my values.

Young professionals leave Oklahoma for the same reasons: student debt, unaffordable, childcare, lack of mental health resources, and the sense that the state does not invest in its people. I want to change that. 1st, we need to make starting a family not feel like a financial crisis. That means paid family leave, affordable childcare, and healthcare that is actually accessible – including mental healthcare. Second, we need to fund public education at a level that makes Oklahoma schools a draw, not a warning. Young professionals with children/planning families look at school quality before they sign a lease. Third, we need to pay public servants – teachers, social workers, healthcare workers – competitively. These are the jobs, young professionals and helping fields come here to do. When we underpay them, we export our talent. Oklahoma has everything it to retain and attract young professionals. What it lacks is a legislature that prioritizes people over politics.

As a former school, social worker, I have seen firsthand what under resource schools due to children and families. I will support legislation that fully funds, public education and treats educators like the professionals they are. Specifically, I will champion my education, legacy investment, Bill, which would raise teacher salaries by $10,000 annually and tie them to the regional average going forward, reduce class sizes to a maximum of 15 students in elementary school and 20 in middle and high school, create pathways for additional support. Staff focused on social emotional learning using evidence based universal approaches from pre-K through 12th grade, and protect teacher retirement funds through a constitutional amendment, making them untouched by the legislature. I also support incentive programs for daycare's to implement early reading readiness, because a child's education begins long before kindergarten.

Oklahoma's economy has historically been tied to oil and gas, which makes it vulnerable when national energy market shifts. I believe the path to a more resilient economy runs through our workers and families. That means investing in paid family leave and affordable childcare so working parents can stay in the workforce and contribute to local economies without being forced to choose between a paycheck and their family. It means fully funding public education, so Oklahoma produces a workforce that can compete in a diversified economy. And supporting small businesses and workers with safe working environments and stable wages, because local spending is what buffers communities against national shocks. I also believe expanding access to mental and physical healthcare keeps workers healthy and productive – a workforce that cannot access care is an economy, waiting to collapse.

Our democracy depends on fairness and our population deserves a different option than the ones that have failed our state. No candidate should go unopposed.

We begin and end with education; invest in teachers, classrooms, retain students in higher education.

I will support any proposal to protect public schools and exclude public funding from going to private schools.

We must continue to diversify, including other forms of energy like the abundant wind we have here, as well as supporting local small businesses which are the backbone of our economy.

Candidate has not yet responded.

Candidate has not yet responded.

Candidate has not yet responded.

Candidate has not yet responded.