Criminal Justice
Do you believe the nation should reduce crime by shifting funding from police and incarceration to increased investment in education, mental healthcare, infrastructure, equitable economic opportunity, and similar systems and programs?
Yes
Do you support abolition of the death penalty?
Yes
Do you support decriminalizing sex work on a federal level?
Yes
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Do you consider the federal 50-year War on Drugs to be a success or failure? And why?
Failure
Please expand on this answer.
We are fighting the wrong way. Criminal behavior comes as a result of lack of other opportunities reflective of talents and interests that can provide for a family. If we instead shifted to strengthening infrastructure around education and healthcare, we would see the long-term shift in drug related activity.
Considering the high percentage of students who have a parent impacted by the criminal legal system, do you believe schools should address this traumatic reality for children?
Yes
Please expand on this answer.
We need mental health services available to students at all levels. We need less standardized testing so that counselors can stop being test administrators.
Do you think youth who commit crimes should be treated as adults?
No
How will you invest in preventions and supports (such as addressing education, mental health services, and poverty) and rehabilitation as an alternative to incarceration?
I will learn all I can about alternatives to incarceration from experts. In education, I can be of much service. Including the family as a resource can be helpful in supporting students and will be important to consider (family counseling, parenting classes, etc.).
Do you believe we should ensure schools are being held accountable to the community in their implementation of alternatives to suspension such as PBIS and restorative justice practice?
Yes
What provisions will you put in place to ensure this occurs?
I believe there are already provisions in place, in most/all states. Having that data be reviewed and LEAs supported to improve would be a plan to make with a group of experts.
Comments on Criminal Justice
We need to reevaluate what we criminalize and how people are treated for breaking societal norms. We need more collaboration with mental health and education professionals for those incarcerated. People should not be making money by keeping people in cages. If we spend more frontloading enriching childhood experiences, we could avoid so much of the criminal activity in adulthood.
Public Health
Do you believe every woman should have access to the full range of reproductive health care services, including access to safe and legal abortion. Will you support a woman's right to safe, legal abortion?
Yes
Do you support Medicare for All?
Yes
Do you support restricting access to firearms by requiring universal background checks?
Yes
Comments on Public Health
I would love to learn more about healthcare. There may several ways that we can shift to more affordable models. We need to limit the price hikes on lifesaving and life sustaining drugs. I cannot wait to serve the public!
Democracy
Do you believe formerly incarcerated people, regardless of their parole or probation status, should be allowed to vote?
Yes
Will you support the expansion of voting rights and commit to restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act?
Yes
Do you support The For the People Act?
Yes
What provisions do you think are particularly important?
3rd party created voting districts are very much needed!
Establishing an alternative campaign funding system for campaigns would be amazing. We need money to not be as important.
Do you support the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights act of 1965?
Yes
Comments on Democracy
It is essential that every voice be able to vote.
Economy
Do you favor raising the federal minimum wage?
Yes
If yes, what would you raise it to immediately? By 2025?
Immediately, to $10. By 2025, I would have to consult with financial experts. However, food servers in Louisiana need a higher wage per hour, also. $2.13 has never been a fair wage.
Across Louisiana, there is a shortage of rental homes affordable and available to extremely low income households (ELI), whose incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income (AMI). Many of these households are severely cost burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing. Severely cost burdened poor households are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent, and to experience unstable housing situations like evictions, creating a housing crisis. Is addressing this potential crisis a top priority for you?
Yes
Do you believe child labor requirements should be relaxed in order to allow minors to work up to eight hours before receiving a recreation or meal break (they are currently required for minors at least once every five hours)?
No
Do you believe there should be work-reporting requirements for Medicaid recipients?
No
Do you support federal paid family and medical leave policies that will allow workers the ability to take paid family and medical time off to care for ill family members or new born children and still receive needed pay to support the family?
Yes
Do you support expanding the federal Child Tax Credit, making it fully refundable and paying it in monthly installments, as happened in 2021 before it was allowed to expire?
Yes
Comments on Economy
There are working models out there that support families, and we are an innovative people. Let's make our world better by valuing family and child development.
Education
Do you believe the Department of Education and schools should be allowed to anonymously survey students on health risk behaviors such as alcohol/drug use; sexual risk behaviors; and tobacco use?
No
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Do you believe that the Federal Government has a role to play in improving early childhood experiences by supporting mental health services from prenatal to age 8?
Yes
Are you aware of the ACE Study and do you support implementation of Federal policies and funding to states to reduce adverse childhood events?
Yes
Do you support systemic change of making college more affordable and short-term approval of student loan relief to cancel or discharge loan debt for borrowers who completed a degree program?
Yes
Comments on Education
With less standardized testing, we can give teachers better time to develop the WHOLE child and build relationships. We also need more modern, more complete teacher preparation programs.
Environmental Justice
Do you support a Green New Deal?
Yes
As one of the nation’s leading petrochemical exporters, what will you do on a national level to protect the citizens of the state and particularly in “Cancer Alley” from the harmful effects of producing these materials that can lead to respiratory complications and other severe health concerns?
Enforcing EPA regulations is essential. Also, companies should be held responsible for the injury they have been proven to cause.
Do you support federal investment in renewable energy?
Yes
Do you support a moratorium on petrochemical buildout and expansion in Louisiana's industrial corridor?
Yes
Louisiana is one of the most vulnerable states facing impacts to climate change. The state is facing intense hurricanes and rising seas. State lawmakers are in a powerful position to address environmental impacts. Will you work to support more funding toward mutual aid groups that can help support on the ground recovery efforts?
Yes
Comments on Environmental Justice
We may always need fossil fuels to some degree, but in Louisiana, we have the potential to diversify our energy production. I look forward to fighting for coastal preservation.
Immigration
Do you support comprehensive immigration reform that offers a path to citizenship for the undocumented who live in the US?
Yes
Will you commit to reducing ICE's budget and the number of ICE detention facilities in Louisiana?
Comments on Immigration
We need a "pathway to professionalism" included in our Visa process. We also need to not let people be kept in cells for being poor or at risk of violence.
Congressional Duties
What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?
Foreign Relations: The global is seeing such crises and aggression lately. We will have to address a great many situations between our nation and other nations, as well as between other nations apart from us.
Poverty: This complex issue needs our prompt attention. There are needs in education; so, we can prepare our future
What Committees do you think you would add value to and why?
Education & Labor: As a professional educator with an advanced degree who understands language acquisition, I will be able to positively impact education. With ever increasing languages within the US and more economic interaction internationally, I believe having a bilingual on board will help with certain discussions around education and demand in labor. Worker rights are also an important topic, and because I care about people in general, I want to ensure the most good is done for the majority of people.
Ethics: I have been trained annually on ethics for state employees, and I see the need for ethics to be reviewed in Congress. Money muddies issues, and we need to clear about just who we represent.
What two things do you think you can accomplish in your first term?
1. Support the codification of reproductive healthcare
2. Support the expansion of early childhood education and childcare access for working families
