We need to use our tax revenues and target the federal funds coming to Maine to fund

infrastructure and to fight inflation to support those in need, similar to the programs I supported last year and that our Governor and Legislature enacted with bipartisan support:

I have worked to:

✅ Fully fund the state share of education costs at 55% -- for the first time in history!

✅ Expand the Homestead Exemption, reducing the amount of tax Mainers pay on their homes.

✅ Expand the Property Tax Fairness Credit for both homeowners and renters, particularly those over age 65.

✅ Support other property tax relief initiatives.

I voted to require health insurers to cover fertility care, because having a child should not be contingent on your insurance plan. I voted to expand the children’s health insurance program.

I always voted on the side of improving access and quality of care, all while keeping private insurance costs flat or even lower.

Maine has strong statutory support for the right to choose and to protect the bodily autonomy of women and girls. I fully support those laws and policies. I will fight against any move to restrict the right to a safe abortion. Abortion is a personal medical decision.

I am pro-labor and proud of my votes to support the rights of working people in Maine. Whether organized as a union or working in solidarity, our health care workers, wood workers, mill workers, store workers, and office workers need to be free of discrimination and paid a livable wage.

There is often the misconception that being pro-worker means that one is anti-business. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Small business is the lifeblood of Maine and small business ownership is what feeds my family. I supported programs to help small businesses recover from the pandemic, supported grant programs to help new Maine businesses grow, voted to provide tax incentives to help Maine businesses and I will always strike a balance between what is fair for the business and what is fair for the worker, as one does not have to choose between supporting business and supporting workers.

Voting rights. As we have seen all across the country voting rights are under attack, and this is terrifying. The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy and we must do everything in our power to protect the right of all eligible Mainers to vote. During my work as your State Representative, we took many measures to make sure that Maine protected these rights, and to make sure that every legal vote was counted with absolute precision.

We must continue to pass legislation like LD 231 which allows Independents to for the first time ever vote in a primary. We must also remove big money from Maine politics. We can close the loophole which allows foreign corporations to spend huge money on Maine referendum questions. We should expand ranked choice voting to all state elections where our Constitution allows us to do so.

Safe, secure and accurate elections are instrumental to a functioning democracy, and we must do everything we can to protect the integrity of our elections. Every vote must be counted, but no vote counted twice. I have been pleased with Shenna Bellows commitment to keeping Maine elections free, fair, inclusive, and precise. One of my top priorities regarding elections is to vote again for Shenna Bellows as our Secretary of State.

Our lakes are key to our environmental well being and our economy that relies on tourism. Our Maine lakes are crucial for drinking water, recreation, and are crucial to the property values in Winthrop and Readfield. Those lakes must be protected from invasive species. Right here in Winthrop and Readfield we have two significant infestations and all of our lakes are at risk.

As a long term member of the Cobbossee Watershed District I have supported programs to keep our lakes healthy. My emergency bill in the last session of the Maine Legislature LD 1826 — requires the Interagency Task Force on Invasive Aquatic Plants and Nuisance Species to develop an action plan for addressing current and future infestations and requires that plan to be reviewed biannually by the legislature.

Being from a family of educators and the product of our local education system, I know firsthand the importance of providing quality and affordable education to our children and young adults. No two children are alike and their education shouldn’t force them into a “one size fits all” mold. Local schools should have enough funding to assure that each student has the opportunity for an educational program that fits that student’s needs, without requiring towns to increase property taxes.

For graduating seniors we need to find a way to offer them affordable options in all areas of study from apprenticeships and trade school, to universities. I voted to fully fund Maine’s public schools, for the first time ever paying the promised 55%. I voted to provide free community college to Maines recent graduates, and I always voted to support our teachers.

It is heartbreaking to hear the stories of our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, that saved their entire life only to lose everything paying for their nursing care. Our government should provide in home supports, and property tax relief to keep seniors in their home. Seniors should also be entitled to pass on a portion of their lifetime assets to the next generation. With an aging population it is of the utmost importance to rethink how we care for our elderly.

Last year, we provided tax relief to family caregivers, increased the property tax exemptions for elderly Mainer’s, and I am currently working with a group of experts to find a way to move my bill, LD 1427, forward so we can ease the burden on families dealing with the stringent financial requirements of a long-term care application and help them leave a little something to their family.

A key driver of inflationary pressures in Maine is due to the lack of housing in general and affordable housing in particular. We need more housing and we need to target our State and federal resources to affordable housing.

In my last term in the Legislature, we allocated over $120 million to housing, eliminated the sales tax paid by non-profit housing builders (and we should consider extending this to all builders of housing). We can’t expect our workers to support their families if they can’t afford to rent or own a home. Local communities need to rethink some of the outdated zoning laws.

I also supported a law to extend resources to towns to help them develop new zoning ordinances and to reduce the burdens towns can place on development. The delicate balance between statewide mandates and our cherished tradition of local control may need a careful review. Local and regional partnerships will be crucial to solving this crisis.

Finally, as your State Representative, I was instrumental in creating the Maine Land Bank Authority, a new state agency designed to help towns rehabilitate blighted properties to bring them back to productive use, whether it be as housing, commercial use, and to create comprehensive plans of how to develop sustainably.

No more hateful or extreme talk. It’s time to listen to each other. I sincerely believe that the most important trait of elected officials is to work with all other officials in a responsible fashion. Respect, honesty, integrity, compassion and cooperation, are central to my life and my campaign.

I work hard every day to practice these values and to encourage those around me to do the same. Over the past two years I worked collaboratively with Democrats, Independents and Republicans to strengthen and pass bills that help Maine. I have developed a reputation on the Innovation, Economic Advancement, and Business Committee for cutting through the partisan nonsense to bring input from all sides to craft strong bipartisan legislation.