OUR PLATFORM

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Accessible Democracy and Good Governance

DC residents pay taxes, serve in the military, and show up for jury duty, but still live under the thumb of congressional veto. Expanding democratic access here isn’t just policy, it’s a moral correction. Together, we can create people-first ways to open the doors wider to our democratic process.

DC isn’t lacking in civic passion, what it needs now is to turn that energy into power.

As the At-Large Councilmember, I will enhance democracy and support good governance by: 

🏛️ Building a civic tech platform for lawmaking to make the DC Council more transparent, interactive, and accessible. Residents should be able to track bills, propose amendments, and engage in public comment without wading through PDFs or showing up in person at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday.

🏛️ Lowering barriers to running for office like reforming ballot access and public financing, so diverse working-class candidates, especially in Black and brown communities, or those with disabilities, can run viable campaigns. Democracy can’t thrive if only the wealthy can afford to compete.

Ballot box with a ballot being inserted and the word 'VOTE' on the front.

Home Rule

Being quiet is not an option. We must defend, protect, and expand DC’s Home Rule. 

Today, DC residents pay the highest taxes per capita in the nation, yet we remain beholden to federal control in ways our neighboring states do not. Our limited autonomy continues to face attacks from Congress, the courts, and from those who seek to stop our local governance.

As the At-Large Councilmember, I will defend DC’s democracy by:

📣 Advocating against Republican overreach in Congress that undermines our self-governance, like: roll backs of laws passed by our elected representatives, forced mid-year spending reductions of our local funds, and installation of Trump’s political appointees to control DC institutions.

🗳️ Expanding access to voting. I will fight the imposition of barriers that make the act of voting harder. I will affirm our right to vote for all of our communities, including voters who are Black or brown, disabled, or married women and transgender people whose names have changed. 

🛡️ Defending our local Sanctuary City protections from attacks by Congress and from fellow elected leaders who are quick to compromise our values. I will ensure DC remains a safe place for immigrant communities and families seeking refuge, as well as transgender people seeking safety outside of their home states.

💪 I will also continue the fight for DC statehood, ensuring District residents gain the autonomy and representation we have long deserved. Statehood would allow us to:

  • Protect our budget and police department from federal control.

  • Guarantee fair pay and protections for working families, immigrants, and our LGBTQ neighbors, specifically our transgender neighbors.

  • Secure our rightful voice in Congress with full congressional voting representation.

Until that day comes, I will refuse to preemptively comply with any Trump administration overreach, standing firm for the people of DC, our democracy, and our dignity..

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Housing

Quality, affordable housing is a human right.

I believe every DC resident deserves to be able to stay rooted in their community. As rent drastically increases and homeownership becomes increasingly out of reach, we must protect residents from bad actors and negligent landlords. DC’s diversity of homes, from co-ops and apartments to single family homes and condos should reflect opportunity, not displacement. 

As At-Large Councilmember, I will fight to: 

🏢 Expand rent stabilization to support affordable and stable rents for working families as more buildings are constructed. DC residents deserve safe, stable, affordable, and accessible housing. 

🏢 Strengthen Tenants Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) and give tenants a fair chance to stay in their homes.

🏘️ Increase funding for housing programs like housing vouchers, Emergency Rental Assistance, Rapid Rehousing, and DC Flex. 

🏢 Protect unhoused neighbors from inhumane encampment evictions and expand wraparound services for healthcare, employment, legal services, and education. Support best-practice solutions with proven success in DC, such as permanent supportive housing, to improve health and rebuild roles and relationships in the community.

👵 Support residents who are homeowners through energy saving programs, home repair funds, and the Single Family Residential Rehabilitation Program to eliminate barriers to accessibility, and expand pathways to homeownership (i.e., fully funding the Housing Production Trust Fund and First Right to Purchase Program).

📣 Advocate for improved public housing conditions (e.g., working elevators for older and disabled people) and demand accountability from the DC Housing Authority.

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Education

Everyone in the District deserves a quality education.

I believe learning is one of the best parts of living. I would help lead a transformation of the District’s education system to take a cradle to retirement approach. Education nurtures people, and our ability to learn should be supported throughout our life. Whether it’s early childhood education, Pre-K to 12, adult literacy programs, trade, and vocation school or college – it is my goal to make sure that residents have the opportunity to succeed at each step of their lifelong learning. 

As At-Large Councilmember, I will: 

🏫 Work with the DC Council to reestablish the standalone Education Committee – a crucial piece of the Council’s performance oversight of the full education ecosystem in DC. 

🧑‍🏫 Develop a collaborative relationship with the Washington Teachers Union to help reduce teacher turnover, improve performance, and ensure fair pay. 

📚Support policies, increase coordination and expand funding to meet the learning needs of children living in poverty, with disabilities, or in foster care. 


🎒 Build a culture of lifelong learning in the District that encourages residents of any age to continuously learn as an opportunity for personal and professional enrichment. This would help us tackle adult literacy at a time when more than 199,000 residents have low literacy rates in DC, which includes nearly half of adults in wards 7 and 8

Fair Wages and Stable Jobs

A legacy of labor, a Councilmember for workers.

I am a legacy of labor not just in words, but in lived experience. I come from a union family and I am a former member of AFGE Local 1000. I have seen first-hand the benefits strong unions make possible for individuals, families, workplaces, and communities committed to DC. 

I will not treat labor as an interest group to be managed. I will treat workers and their unions as partners in governing the District, because a city that works for workers is a city that works for everyone.

As At-Large Councilmember, I will: 

💵 Fight for a living wage for all. Everyone should be able to afford to live, raise a family, and thrive in our city. I fully support the creation of the Labor Advisory Council and believe it will be instrumental in helping the mayor and the DC Council propel the city toward a living wage for all.

🔧 Support strong, union-backed public service jobs. Together, we can preserve and expand good-paying union jobs across the DC government, strengthen apprenticeships and internal promotion pathways. Combined, this would ensure people employed by the DC government have access to meaningful job training and professional upward mobility. I will support labor-management committees, lead the repeal of anti-union laws on the Council, and guarantee timely, good-faith contract negotiations so workers are respected and fairly represented. 

🏛️ Bring real accountability and strengthen worker protections. I will work to establish the DC Department of Labor & Workers Rights to enforce labor standards, prevent retaliation, and make sure people employed in DC know their rights. I will champion a Workers’ Bill of Rights to guarantee dignity, safety, and fairness on the job, and I will ensure that public dollars are never used to undermine union organizing or worker power.

🛡️ Build a stronger safety net. I will strengthen unemployment insurance so workers aren’t punished during economic downturns or for struggling to navigate a complicated system. No resident should fall through the cracks during moments of crisis and my policies will reflect that.

👶 🧑‍🦼Advance policies that enable affordable, equitably paid childcare and long-term care. Hard-working parents and family caregivers may need access to care for children and loved ones while supporting their household. Older or disabled people may need long-term care to live safely and independently in their homes and communities. Many childcare and long-term care workers are women of color or immigrants.

Stay connected to learn more about my platform.

Transit for a Connected City

Mobility is freedom. Let’s fund it like we mean it. 

Washington, DC, moves but not always well and rarely the same for everyone. Bus service has improved, especially with dedicated bus lanes, but residents east of the river still wait longer and travel further. Older and disabled residents across DC similarly depend on reliable public transportation to access healthcare, jobs, culture, and community.

DC’s future won’t be built on adding traffic lanes. It’ll be built on trust, access, and the political will to treat mobility as a right, not a perk. The city’s bike boom and scooter surge show people want alternatives, but the infrastructure hasn’t kept up, and we know that paint isn’t protection, especially for Black and brown cyclists in Wards 7 and 8. 

A real shift means more than ribbon-cuttings. It’s redesigning streets for people, not just throughput. Think busways that don’t stop at ward boundaries, safe sidewalks and curb cuts you can comfortably push a stroller or maneuver a wheelchair down, and transit that works at 11 p.m., not just 8 a.m.

As At-Large Councilmember, my first-term priorities will include: 

🚌 Advocate for a more robust Bus Rapid Transit network, especially in underserved communities in Wards 7 and 8, to bridge gaps in mobility and economic opportunity. 

🚴‍♀️🚶‍♀️ Improve protected bike lanes and pedestrianized corridors particularly in high-traffic neighborhoods to reinforce Vision Zero goals.

🏙️ Investigate how congestion pricing or curbside management in the downtown core can generate revenue for public transit subsidies.

🤝📑 Listen to the disability advisory committee previously formed by the DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, together with the Department of Public Works, to inform plans for snow removal and other weather events.

🏘️🌳🚶‍♀️👩‍🦽 Sidewalks. Not exciting, I know. But their quality impacts people with varying degrees of mobility. We’ll fund ADA compliance and basic sidewalk repair. I’m also excited to participate in Sidewalk Palooza. It’s a great opportunity to bring attention to our critical infrastructure that we mostly overlook, but that hinders a lot of people with limited mobility in their daily lives.

🤜🤛 Strengthen regional cooperation with Maryland and Virginia, aligning land-use decisions and infrastructure planning through the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to support a unified, multimodal future. We can start with main street corridors like Georgia Avenue, NW, Minnesota Avenue, NE, and Southern Avenue, SE.

🚇 The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) submitted a request to their Board to complete a $2 million reimbursable study of possible transit improvements near the new RFK stadium. I understand WMATA’s focus on the immediate areas around the grounds, but attention must be given to the existing nearby Deanwood, Minnesota Avenue, and Benning Road Metro Stations. We must investigate improvements that can be made at those stations to prepare our Ward 7 neighborhoods for the future.

Stay connected to learn more about my platform.