CORE ISSUES
I’m focused on protecting and strengthening our hard-won rights, especially in the face of growing threats from the Republicans in the federal government. At the same time, we must also work to make our district and state more affordable, accessible, and safe for all.
Protecting Our Rights
Protections for immigrants
We need to defend and strengthen protections for immigrants. This means holding firm on sanctuary policies and improving daily life for immigrants through policies like language access.
Queer and trans rights
We need to defend and strengthen queer and trans rights, especially as Illinois continues to be a safe haven for queer and trans communities facing threats elsewhere. Every human being has a right to bodily autonomy and freedom from violence. We must continue to ensure that gender affirming care remains available and accessible despite attempts by the MAGA federal government to restrict it.
Reproductive freedom
We need to defend reproductive freedom. Every human being has a right to bodily autonomy and the right to decide when and whether or not to have children. Abortion must be available on demand, without apology.
We also have to ensure that reproductive healthcare is accessible, affordable, and safe for all. This means addressing Illinois’ sharp racial and economic inequalities in maternal healthcare. It also means ensuring access for the LGBTQ community—something that is personal to me, as my partner and I have been denied insurance coverage for reproductive care.
Building An Affordable and Abundant Future
Transit
Public transit is essential for our district and city to thrive. We need a transit system that is reliable, safe, and accessible to all. This requires robust funding, collaborative governance, and rider-centered policies. My goal is for our service to be so good that Chicagoans who own cars still prefer to take public transit because it is more convenient and cost-effective.
Housing
We face a growing affordability crisis, and housing costs are a major reason why. We need aggressive state action to ensure that housing is both affordable and abundant. This means policies that make it easier to build more housing, such as ending parking minimums, easing development of affordable housing, and legalizing accessory dwelling units such as coach houses. These should be paired with policies that keep rents down, such as greater support for affordable and social housing and lifting the ban on rent control.
Public education
Every child deserves access to quality public education. The state must fully fund school districts across the state. The state took an important step toward this goal by adopting an Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula, but our work is not complete until the EBF is fully funded.
