Issues

    • Expand Medicaid statewide

    • Codify a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions and make reproductive healthcare accessible and affordable statewide, without government intervention legislating any person’s body

    • Codify protection and access to birth control, contraception, and IVF

    • Allow a pregnant person the freedom to choose and the ability to access abortion care and other reproductive care

    • Reduce the cost of prescription drugs for all people, not just seniors

    • Invest in healthcare state-wide, particularly in areas that are “healthcare deserts” - under-served, often rural parts of the state whose residents may not have access to any hospital in their county

    • Re-open Planned Parenthood locations that were forced to close due to Republican-led efforts to take away healthcare for the thousands of Georgians that it used to serve.

    • Address the urgent need for more mental health care, including in-patient mental health care. We need to do expand treatment options for mental healthcare, make sure that it is being covered by medicare, and that Georgians are not facing outrageous wait times to get treatment.

    • We MUST focus on the inequality of medical care and patient outcomes for minorities in the state, particularly women and especially women of color. The statistics and outcomes are clear in showing that specific demographics are seeing a lower quality and quantity of treatment and worse outcomes. This requires extensive analysis and a muli-pronged approach to try and correct this, but it is unacceptable that we continue to fail to take action.

    *Note: While I may use the term “woman” when discussing reproductive healthcare rights and the right to abortion care and the right to choose, I am always also including people who are non-binary and may not identify as cisgender women. I want to make clear that if I do tend to use the term woman when talking about these issues, that I personally and legislatively include all people with female reproductive anatomy.

    • Raise Georgia state minimum wage to $15/hour for hourly wage earners and $10/hour for tipped workers. This is up from the current GA minimum wage of $5.15 hour (the lowest state minimum wage in the country) and $2.13/hour for tipped workers.

    • Close the legal loophole that allows employers to pay disabled workers a substandard minimum wage - less than the already absurdly low current state minimum wage.

    • Create policies to help people dealing with the skyrocketing cost of rent by ensuring landlords and building owners can’t price tenants out with excessively steep rent increases.

    • Eliminating individual counties’ ability to levy a grocery tax, so Georgians living in a county with a grocery tax (like Fulton County) can experience some economic relief from the high grocery prices we still experience from the effects of inflation.

    • Eliminate the tax on prescription medications

    • Eliminate the “pink tax” statewide - this is the taxation of feminine hygiene products and similar items for menstruating women. Period care is healthcare, not a luxury purchase. Women shouldn’t have to pay a tax because of their biology.

    • Work in conjunction with the Department of Transportation to make sure that our state is equipped with the infrastructure to move us into a future where more people can drive electric vehicles without concerns about driving range. This will include a state rebate for EV purchases.

    • Electrify public transportation, including replacing school buses with new, safer electric buses.

    • Establish new standards for new construction and renovation of existing infrastructure to create standards that call for more environmentally conscious construction practices, utilize more efficient building materials, and install energy and water efficient appliances and fixtures. Making these the building standard in our state will reduce our environmental impact and energy use, thus lowering power bills for all.

    • Invest in renewable energy across Georgia for private residential and commercial use

    • Protecting native Georgia wildlife from human disturbance; and reforesting, reclaiming, replanting, restoring, and protecting native Georgia wildlife and habitats.

    • Funding efforts to clean up polluted land, water and air; education; and research so we can understand and track our progress with protection, regulatory, and restoration efforts.

  • As adults, it is our responsibility to use our vote to protect Georgia's children who don't have a voice. In light of the horrific shooting at a Georgia high school that ended in multiple injuries, and the senseless murders of 2 teachers and 2 children, and the traumatization of thousands of school aged children statewide, I have updated and expanded on my gun control policy ideas.

    My main policy proposal is to create a state department, modeled after the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) that will regulate the legal ownership of guns to promote the safe, responsible ownership of legal firearms for people who choose to do so.

    This would include a number of policies to ensure law enforcement is aware of who owns what type of firearm; that they have had training in how to use it and handle it safely; and try to prevent guns from being in the hands of dangerous individuals and domestic abusers.

    This would also help law enforcement identify legally and illegally owned firearms and stolen firearms, and for responsible gun owners to exercise their constitutional right while enacting stricter safety measures aimed at preventing deaths. Some of these measures include:

    • Ban high-capacity assault firearms and weapons of war.

    • Mandatory background checks

    • Specific laws to protect people from domestic violence

    • Specific licensing classes and requirements for different types of firearms and purposes

    • Annual registration renewal by trained government workers that would include re-certification, inspection of firearms and serial numbers, reviewing safe storage plans, and making sure owner's address is updated, among others.

    • Ban the sale of guns at private shows without department oversight.

    • Prospective gun owners will need to complete safety and proficiency training and obtain an appropriate license before purchasing any weapon, and must register any new weapon within 14 days.

    • Firearms may not be purchased directly by anyone under 21; a gun can be owned by someone 18 or over if they first become licensed and complete training and safety classes, but the gun must be purchased by someone over 21 who is licensed and lives with or is close to the owner.

    • No minor should be able to possess a firearm at any age. A minor may be allowed to use a firearm with the direct supervision of a licensed gun owner, using that person's gun, and the minor should receive and pass safety tests.

    • A minor should never have the ability to own, operate, or have direct unsupervised access to a gun. Any use of a firearm by a minor should be heavily monitored by a trained user and for specific purposes (i.e. target practice or legal hunting).

    Other policy proposals:

    • Roll back the dangerous laws Georgia republicans passed that gave more rights to gun owners (at the same time they took rights away from women). After a series of laws passed in 2022, millions of Georgians are put in danger because the GOP gave legal protection to gun owners to carry guns in public without a license or permit. Currently, it is legal for anyone to carry a loaded weapon into a store, a church, a coffee shop, a park, and even Zoo Atlanta. Allowing any person with zero training or background check to walk around in public spaces fully armed is completely nonsensical and incredibly dangerous.

    • Investigate the living conditions of Georgia jails and prisons in relation to the recent deaths of incarcerated individuals (like the multiple deaths in the Fulton County Jail).

    • Improve living conditions in prisons and jails statewide.

    • Remove unconstitutional barriers to voting put in place by Georgia Republicans that are making voting more difficult for specific groups of people, particularly the elderly, young/first time voters, minorities, lower income, rural, and disabled voters. Democracy wins when everybody who is eligible to vote can vote, regardless of the party that wins.

    • Remove criminal and financial penalties for people who make mistakes when filling out their ballot that may lead to it not being counted. Georgians should not be afraid to vote in case they make a mistake. We should simplify the language used on ballots and ballot instructions and make it as simple for people to follow, and educate rather than punish voters who make an honest error when voting.

    • Repeal the nonsensical laws passed by Georgia republicans to make voting more difficult - for example, the law that makes it a crime to hand people food and water while waiting in line to vote.

  • I grew up attending Fulton County Public schools. I have had some incredible teachers as well as some very negative experiences, and this is one of the largest reasons why I’m running. As the youngest candidate in my race, I have been the most recent person to go through a Georgia public school system. As a disabled person, I have a very unique understanding of what works, what doesn’t, and what can work better. If elected, I want to direct large amounts of funding to address the needs of our students and educators:

    • Permanent pay raises for teachers, school administrators, school nurses, counselors, sanitation and food workers, and bus drivers.

    • At least one school counselor per public school, with the aim of having one for every 500 students. I want to provide school counselors with advanced training to help them serve students’ mental health concerns and help kids who are falling through the cracks.

    • Better funding for school materials and infrastructure. Teachers shouldn’t have to pay for supplies out of their own pockets, and buildings should be safe and in good repair.

    • End the vilification of books in libraries by parents and the censorship of reading materials. It’s a disservice to the children of Georgia to be taught that learning or reading about something new that their parents have not personally taught them is somehow wrong. Parents are a very important part of a child’s education, but the educators are the ones educating them. Public schools and the teachers and staff there work hard every day and their ability to do their job shouldn’t be caught up in legislation that prevents them from doing their job.

    • Increase funding for educational services for children with physical, cognitive, developmental, mental, and learning disabilities. Teachers and school administrators often provide an important insight for parents into a child’s development. But with more funding for additional staff, training for current staff and programs set up to find kids who may be slipping through the cracks, we can absolutely help so many children. This is important to me personally because I am now open about being autistic, and I have been autistic my whole life. But I wasn’t diagnosed until age 24. I was always clearly very different and that was taken notice of, but there was no suggesion that I may have autism. Being diagnosed for me was one of the best things to happen to me. If we can take steps to help kids to not fall through the cracks, we should absolutely be doing it.

    • Increase funding for Child Protective Services, including salary increases for social care workers. They are already underpaid and overworked, so attracting more to the profession with better pay will help ensure that each child’s case gets more attention.

    • Provide free school lunch for all public school students, free breakfast for students whose family qualifies as lower income, and higher quality foods, more substantial and developmentally appropriate portions, and with better nutrition.

    • Increase state funds for children's healthcare to make sure that every child is getting the basic medical care they need to grow up healthy - things like biannual check-ups, ability to see a doctor for illness or injury, regular eye exams and glasses for kids who need them, and all age-appropriate, pediatrician-recommended vaccinations.

    Although children aren’t yet a part of the electorate, I believe it’s crucial that we as adults treat them with the same care and respect as adults. I want to enact legislation that will help children in Georgia feel less powerless and alone, and that they can and should speak up if something is not right. Children are their own people, and the rise in the movement towards parental rights concerns me because it objectifies children as the property of their parents who are free to make all decisions for them and reduce exposure to outside influences. As a young adult and a member of Gen Z, I understand what it is like to grow up in this modern era and I know where we can make changes to help the youth of Georgia to have a better childhood and better start in life.