Priorities

Too many Michiganders are one medical emergency away from financial ruin. The most urgent step is to restore Trump’s devastating cuts to healthcare. In the State Senate, I protected Michigan from the harshest cuts by restoring funding to Medicaid and SNAP, and enshrined Obamacare in state law when it was under attack in Washington. I am also working to ban aggressive medical debt collection, help low-income moms afford diapers and formula, and stop the worst of Trump’s price hikes from taking place.

But we need to do more, like lowering prescription drug costs, expanding coverage, and lowering premiums so more Americans can be insured. We need a Congress that will stand up to the pharmaceutical and insurance industry lobbyists who are blocking progress. I strongly support a robust public option as a pathway to universal coverage. This ensures no one goes uninsured while preserving the freedom for those who want to keep their plan negotiated with their employer or union. A public option will drive down costs, expand access, and hold insurers accountable, while building toward a system where everyone has easy access to affordable care.

We are facing an affordability crisis, from groceries and gas to healthcare and childcare. Wages are stagnant and the richest Americans are getting more breaks. Congress must overturn the devastating impacts of Trump’s big awful bill that have increased costs on Michigan families. We must make the basics more affordable. It’s an all and above approach that includes: 

• Bringing down the cost of housing: Too many in my generation are being priced out of homeownership, while our parents had already achieved the American dream by our age. We need major federal investments to build more affordable housing, creative incentives to repair housing in disrepair, and crack down on corporate investors driving up prices. 
• Investing in pre-K and headstart programs: Families should not have to choose between paying the bills and caring for their children. Expanding access to pre-K and Head Start programs would give every child a strong foundation for success while saving families thousands of dollars each year.
• Ending the illegal wars that are driving up costs: We cannot ignore that Americans back home are paying for Trump’s wars and interventions. With no end in sight, gas prices will only continue to rise, as will other goods as the supply chain continues to break down. Congress must reassert their war powers and bring stability back to our economy.
• Stopping the chaotic tariff policy: Michigan’s economy depends on stable supply chains and strong international partnerships. A tariff policy that changes by the month has only raised prices for consumers and hurt workers and small businesses caught in the middle.
• Standing up to corporate greed and price gouging: Corporations have taken advantage of a corrupt administration and unstable economy. Their unchecked greed has raised prices, while lowering quality and quantity. American families are left with less money in their pockets, while corporations continue to rake in record profits. Congress must take on corporate consolidation, strengthen consumer protections, and crack down on companies who are exploiting American consumers.

The cruelty and chaos caused by ICE cannot be repaired or reformed under Donald Trump and the agency must be dismantled. Congress should demand transparency in federal immigration enforcement and hold those who acted illegally to account. In the Michigan Senate, I’ve led on legislation to protect immigrant and refugee communities, reign in ICE’s terror, and stop warrantless raids. We can both secure our border without allowing officers posing as masked vigilantes to erode due process and civil liberties. We need an interior agency with more rigorous training, increased oversight, and safer outcomes.

Americans want an immigration system that is orderly, just, and humane. We must create legal pathways to citizenship for those protected under DACA and for undocumented immigrants with long-standing ties to the US. We need to revamp the outdated visa system to meet both our labor needs and those seeking economic opportunity.

The most critical thing a new majority must do is protect voting rights because voting rights secure all other rights.

I was a leading voice in the State Senate combating Trump’s lies following the 2020 election. When we took the majority in 2022, I became chair of the Elections Committee, where I drafted the laws that expand access to the ballot box and reduce barriers to voting, including by implementing 9 days of in-person early voting in Michigan before Election Day. I also sponsored a piece of a larger Michigan Voting Rights Act that we introduced to protect voting rights in our state where they are being threatened, especially in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision.

I’m uniquely prepared as an elections expert to get into this fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, confront and defeat the SAVE Act, and stop Donald Trump from federalizing our elections.

We have made so much progress in Michigan and cannot let Donald Trump take us backward. As an LGBTQ Michigander, I broke barriers to become the first out gay person to serve in the Michigan Senate. Our community needed to be in the room where decisions about us were being made and I sponsored the law to finally place LGBTQ protections in our state’s civil rights law. I would be the first LGBTQ person from Michigan in Congress and will fight to pass the Equality Act.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, I championed the Michigan ballot proposal that restored abortion rights in our State Constitution and passed the Reproductive Health Act into law. I will always vote to protect access to abortion care.

I’ve also fought to reverse the years of systemic disinvestment in our urban core communities. In the Senate, I’ve focused specifically on Pontiac’s revitalization after years of state, county and local neglect. I delivered an historic investment in our state budget to our county seat to invest in and grow downtown Pontiac, fix the MLK Bridge, and ensure more money goes into Pontiac classrooms.

But we know the attacks aren’t stopping. Across the country, MAGA Republicans are continuing to target marginalized communities. In Congress, I will stand up to hate and political extremism, and ensure that every person is treated with dignity and respect.

In the Michigan Senate, I’ve spent years leading the effort to make government more ethical, accountable, and transparent, including by requiring the Legislature and Governor’s Office to open our hidden legislative records to the public. It hasn’t always made me the most popular person when I push my colleagues to open their emails for public scrutiny but voters need to know the influence behind the policy decisions that impact them. That is my approach to public service.

Congress has a corruption problem. I support a total ban on members, staff, and the administration from participating in individual stock trades and prediction markets. No one should profit off of public service.

I am part of the generation that came of age as instances of mass shootings became more prevalent in American daily life. I was in middle school when Columbine happened and in college when Virginia Tech happened. And as a member of the Jewish and LGBTQ communities, the Tree of Life and Pulse nightclub shootings hit too close to home.

I have fought for gun safety legislation long before it was popular, even within the Democratic party. When I was first elected to the State Legislature, I became a founding member of the Gun Violence Prevention Caucus, pushing against cautious Democratic leaders because it was the right thing to do. Sadly, each successive mass shooting and everyday gun violence elevated gun safety legislation to finally become a priority.

In 2023 as President Pro Tem of the Michigan Senate, I passed Michigan’s first major gun safety laws in decades, which are saving lives today. The legislation included expanding background checks, requiring firearms be safely secured in homes with minors, and implementing red flag laws to prevent the next crisis. We need to pass this legislation on the federal level to make sure every community has common sense gun safety protections, including banning assault-style rifles, expanding background checks, and ensuring that suspected terrorists and individuals with a history of domestic abuse cannot access firearms.

I’m the grandson of a typesetter who was very active in his union and the son of a public school teacher who was an MEA representative. I was proud to be a part of the Michigan Senate leadership team that repealed our right-to-work law, becoming the first state to do so in many decades. Right-to-work policies undermine the strength of unions that advocate for fair wages and safe work conditions – factors that are essential to a strong economy.

For more than a century, Michigan has shown the country how a skilled and organized workforce can both power America’s manufacturing industry and create a great middle class life. Collective bargaining remains one of the most important tools we have to ensure corporations and the wealthy cannot unilaterally dictate the terms of employment. In Congress, I will continue to uplift organized labor, strengthen unions, and protect workers’ rights. I will proudly support the PRO Act and ensure that every worker has the freedom to organize.

If elected, I would be the youngest member of Michigan’s Congressional delegation – this new generation of leaders has the most urgency to act on climate change. In Michigan, we are experiencing increasingly severe weather, with more intense summer rain storms that overwhelm our infrastructure and more dangerous winter ice storms that put families at risk.

Our Democratic majority passed and I voted for the strongest regulations around data centers of any state in the country. Our law protects our water supply and ensures that the cost of data centers are not burdened on us as ratepayers. I support local input and control as these proposals pop up in Michigan communities.

We have a moral imperative to make progress towards a clean energy grid, enact strong environmental protections, and better prepare our communities for extreme weather events.

During my time in the Michigan Legislature I have worked towards this goal by advancing legislation to protect Michiganders from devastating flooding, hold polluters accountable, and find effective environmental protections. Michigan is doing its part on climate action, and I look forward to working in Congress to continue this progress.