My Commitment
I'm tired of empty promises from politicians on both the left and right. I'm running to deliver service long overdue to the people. As a champion for immigrant rights, bold climate action, and stronger worker protections, I will step in for Americans during this pivotal moment when support is needed most. While this presidential administration threatens freedoms and serves the top 1%, I will protect working class families and restore a faith in government that truly serves its people.
Household
Affordability
Medicare for All Our healthcare system is intentionally set up to make sure as few people as possible have the ability to go see a doctor, while at the same time putting more and more people into medical debt. We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world. The idea that we cannot afford a universal healthcare system is absurd. Country after country across the globe provides healthcare as a human right. The time is now to pass Medicare for All into law, ending the nightmare of our private health insurance system.
Universal Childcare The Economic Policy Institute's research shows that annual childcare costs in Maryland have surpassed college tuition rates. Childcare for a four year old costs around $13,355 a year, while it's $18,946 for infants. This is impossible for working class families to afford. We need universal childcare to ensure our families are supported and have the resources needed to raise their families in peace and security.
Cap Rent & Utility Increases Cost of living, including rental costs and utility bills, has skyrocketed, while wages have failed to keep up. Last year, four out of ten households renting in Baltimore spent 35% or more of their income on rent. Having a roof over your head, clean drinking water, and heat in the winter are all basic human rights. We need support for renters now to ensure that property owners and utility companies cannot price people out of these necessities. We need legislation establishing a national cap on annual rent increases, restricting evictions without just cause, and guaranteeing a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction. We must also repeal the Faircloth Amendment to allow the construction of new public housing units. And to address utility costs, establish a utilities rate cap that will automatically cap all monthly utility bill payments at 2% of household incomes for every household.
Universal Pre-K Science on early childhood brain development shows that crucial intellectual, health, and social emotional development is happening long before the age of five, the year formal education in the United States begins. Universal pre-K will help families and single parents bring home more pay to provide a better life for their families. Not only do our children deserve a better future, but our communities will be all the stronger for a system that values education earlier.
Creating an Economy for Us
Revitalize Unions in the United States Unions helped transform America's workforce, providing benefits like the 40-hour workweek. And yet, like millions of Americans, I have never been represented by a union thanks to decades of anti-union legislation. Action is required to restore strength to our unions and protections to our workers. We must repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. We need to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. And we need to pursue any other legislation that is pro-union and pro-worker.
Solve the Climate Crisis Politicians have abandoned my generation and younger when it comes to climate commitments. We have seen politicians, on both sides of the aisle, roll back protections that are meant to safeguard against our climate crisis. A federal report released in 2024 finds that climate change costs the U.S. around $150 billion each year, an estimate that doesn't account for loss of life, healthcare-related costs, and damages to ecosystem services. The tide has not turned. We are still heading towards devastating effects that will destroy families from every socioeconomic background. It is not too late to make change, but we need climate leaders who will pass a Green New Deal to ensure we have the tools and resources to protect our most vulnerable communities.
Refocus on Education Through a Fresh Start Initiative Broken promises to forgive student loan debt for millions of Americans has made many young people cynical about our political system. It is no surprise folks are jaded, with total student loan debt now over $1.6 trillion. We do not have the same level playing field as previous generations had. To ensure our economy is working for everyone, it is past time to forgive student loan debt to allow our students and graduates to invest back in their communities, not be burdened with astronomical bills. And to ensure current and future generations have the same opportunities, we must make all public universities & trade schools tuition free.
Increase the Federal Minimum Wage to $25 an Hour Wages have not kept up with the cost of living. The current minimum wage is a starvation wage. In 2021, we had the opportunity to finally give workers the raise they deserve. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema helped kill that dream. We cannot repeat the same mistake again. After more than 15 years of no increase, we are long overdue for a raise that serves the working class, not the economic elites.
Accountability for All
Abolish ICE & Break up DHS ICE is a modern day gestapo that has zero accountability to the American people. Every day, our neighbors are kidnapped by masked, unidentified agents. This is a result of two decades of an expanding surveillance state and private prison industry that profits off the suffering of immigrants. ICE must be abolished. The only purpose it has ever served is to harm the same communities the agency claims to protect. The Department of Homeland Security must also be dismantled and absorbed into other agencies. They have accumulated too much power and cannot continue as is.
Amnesty for Undocumented Immigrants Documented and undocumented immigrants alike have been told for years to come into the country "the right away." But we have a system that is intentionally set up to create confusion and chaos, including leaving the claims process critically understaffed across the country. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is nullifying protections for those who follow the law. Designating whole groups of people, like Somali Americans and Haitian immigrants, as "animals" and "criminals" is not only racist, it is completely false. When our immigration system has been broken for so long, and our politicians refuse to solve the issue, we cannot treat undocumented immigrants like criminals just for existing. We must rapidly fund the staff needed to process citizenship requests, end the immigration court backlog, and treat migrants who are seeking a better life here with the respect they deserve. As Ronald Reagan once said, "I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally."
End Support for Genocide Seeing men, women, and children killed by bombs funded by our tax dollars is enough to make anyone feel shame. Yet, only 21 members of the United States Congress have acknowledged Israel's genocide in Gaza. You are either against genocide or you are for it - it's that simple. And silence is complicity. We must pass the Block the Bombs Act and support candidates across the country who will demand Israel dismantle its apartheid state before we send another penny. South Africa, a former apartheid state, has accused Israel of currently being an apartheid state. If, as a member of Congress, you correctly recognized that South Africa was an apartheid state, there is no excuse for not recognizing the current reality in Israel. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been engaged in a civil war with Sudan’s army since 2023, in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 12 million people. The United States government determined on January 7, 2025, that Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forces committed genocide in Darfur during the current conflict in Sudan. Our government must place sanctions on actors blocking aid or violating Darfur's arms embargo and pressure allies, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to stop weapons transfers to Sudan.
Prosecute All Crimes Committed by the Trump Administration Under Pete Hegseth's command, the U.S. Government is committing murder in international waters. The footage is so disturbing that Rep. Jim Himes described it as "one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service." The excuse that this is about drug smuggling is baseless. Approximately 4 in 5 people apprehended for smuggling fentanyl into the United States at the southern border between October 2018 and June 2024 were U.S. citizens. The number of crimes being committed is unprecedented - from white collar crimes to crimes against humanity. When Democrats regain control of Congress in 2027, we must be focused on holding every individual responsible accountable for these flagrant abuses of the law through every legal means available. This includes impeachment proceedings against Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, and every other Cabinet official that has shown a clear disregard for human life.