Issues

I believe that housing is a human right, and recognize that LD7 is plagued by housing that is unaffordable, resulting in poverty and homelessness. In the State House, I will support legislation on housing affordability, tenants' rights, and fighting homelessness. 

One of the key ways I intend to get this done is by advocating for the repeal of SB1350, which forbids local government bodies from regulating short-term rentals. This has contributed to a massive shortage of housing and driven up costs for long-term residents as parasitic investors buy up homes that they will never live in for the purpose of renting them out to people with no long-term connection to our communities. 

Like most working people in Arizona, I attended public school. I understand that our public education system does not have to be consistently ranked among the worst in the United States. In the State House, I will support increasing teacher and support staff pay and increasing education budgets for classroom materials, special education, and teacher training. I will also fight against the wildly unpopular and wasteful school voucher program that funnels money into private schools. 

Arizona's working class is getting screwed by billionaires and oligarchs. I will fight to take power back by working to expand the powers of collective bargaining in Arizona (divided we beg; united we bargain) and fighting for a statewide minimum wage of at least $17 an hour. 

Arizonans pay ridiculous premiums for worse healthcare coverage than the rest of the developed world. Nationwide universal healthcare is far-fetched under the current political environment of our country, but we can join the West Coast states that have begun research into developing universal healthcare policy on a state level and creating an interstate compact to strengthen state level universal healthcare.

I understand that Arizona's greatest energy resource is renewable: our sun. In the State House, I will support legislation that brings clean energy jobs to Arizona and expands our ability to harness our greatest resource. These are necessary steps to combating climate change and leaving a habitable planet for our descendants.

One of the key ways I will do this is by advocating for 1:1 net metering in Arizona, ensuring that all homeowners with solar that sell their excess power back into the grid will be properly compensated. This will help ensure that going solar is cost-effective for homeowners. Additionally, I will support building more EV charging stations in rural Arizona.

In 2025, it is beyond time to admit that the War on Drugs is a failure that has harmed working-class communities and restricted research on potentially life-changing drugs. Drug legalization should be expanded beyond marijuana to other nonaddictive drugs showing therapeutic promise, such as psychedelics. 

Like most people with empathy, I am disgusted by the Israeli occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people. I will pave the way to repeal Arizona's anti-BDS laws that restrict the ability of state contractors to boycott Israel. Even if it's a losing issue with the current makeup of the Arizona state government, I believe that it's the right thing to do.

Additionally, I recognize that anti-BDS laws are a violation of freedom of speech. In a time when freedom of speech is increasingly under attack by Republicans and the Trump administration, we must do everything we can to protect it.

I believe that gun rights are human rights. I will lead the way for other Democrats to defend and expand gun rights and other civil liberties, as both minority groups (including and especially transgender people) and civil liberties are increasingly under attack by Republican politicians and the Trump administration. Democrats should be prepared for the possibility that we will slide so deep into authoritarianism that we cannot simply vote our way out of it; we can prevent this by staying armed as a form of deterrence.