Our Priorities
Our Priorities
Pro-Democracy
Our democracy only works when it works for everyone. Right now, too many people feel like their voices don’t matter — that the system is rigged to serve the powerful and well-connected. That’s not how our democracy should function.
We need to make it easier to vote, harder to buy elections, and impossible to silence the will of the people. That means passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, ending partisan gerrymandering, and banning dark money so corporate interests can’t drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.
Unfortunately, not everyone shares that vision. Ann Wagner has repeatedly aligned herself with politicians and movements that undermine our democratic process — defending those who spread lies about our elections instead of standing up for the truth. In fact, she wants to choose her voters through further gerrymandering of Missouri’s Second Congressional District and has openly endorsed overturning the will of Missouri voters by dismantling our citizen initiative petition process — one of the few remaining tools ordinary people have to make their voices heard when politicians refuse to listen.
And instead of challenging dangerous ideas coming from her own party’s leadership — including Donald Trump’s calls to use American cities as “training grounds” for active-duty military — she’s chosen silence. Our leaders should defend democracy, not enable those who threaten it.
This campaign stands for something different. I believe democracy isn’t just a system of government — it’s a sacred trust between neighbors. When that trust erodes, so does the country we love. Rebuilding it starts with honesty, transparency, and leaders who remember who they work for: the people.
Health Care with Dignity
In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one should go bankrupt because they got sick. Yet millions of Americans still live one medical emergency away from financial ruin. We can do better — and we must.
As someone who lives with epilepsy, I understand the fear of losing both your job and your health insurance. During the Great Recession, I lost mine and was subsequently sent a COBRA bill for $1,500 a month. I laughed — not because it was funny, but because I was in my late twenties, with student loans and little savings. Despite needing to see a neurologist regularly, I went without health insurance for more than a year.
Fortunately, a close friend in Rome was able to send me my medication for $11 a month instead of $300. That is not how a country as wealthy and capable as ours should treat people who get sick. Healthcare should not depend on luck, geography, or who you know abroad. It should be a guarantee for every American.
Our plan starts by giving people the option to buy into Medicare through the Affordable Care Act marketplace — a practical step that would lower costs, expand choice, and give small businesses simpler, more affordable options for their employees. This approach would also help reduce the exorbitant healthcare costs that are driving millions of Americans into debt and bankruptcy, since medical debt remains the number-one cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States.
At the same time, we must ensure that when someone loses their job, they don’t lose their healthcare. Large corporations and the federal government should help cover COBRA costs during periods of unemployment, because no one’s access to care should depend on their employment status.
Healthcare is not a partisan issue. It’s a moral one. I will work with anyone — Republican or Democrat — who believes that access to care should be a right, not a reward for good luck or good timing.
High-Quality Education for All
Every child deserves a fair shot at success, and that starts with education. From early childhood through higher education, we must invest in our kids like our future depends on it — because it does.
Missouri ranks 49th in the nation for average teacher pay and 50th for starting pay. As a result, many rural districts have moved to four-day school weeks because they can’t attract or retain qualified teachers. That’s unconscionable. The quality of a child’s education should never depend on their ZIP code or their parents’ property taxes.
We can fix this, but it takes leadership that puts families over special interests. Republican state leaders eliminated Missouri’s capital gains tax, making us the only state in the country to do so. The decision will cost taxpayers an estimated $625 million a year and overwhelmingly benefits millionaires. Ann Wagner’s support for this same trickle-down approach in Washington makes her complicit in policies that reward the wealthy while punishing working families.
Our campaign isn’t against success or wealth. We’re against policies that give millionaires tax breaks while middle-class families struggle to afford childcare — and rural counties can’t afford to keep schools open five days a week. Every family deserves access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education.
Too many families across our district still lack that access, leaving kids behind through no fault of their own. If elected, I’ll work to ensure Missouri joins New Mexico in guaranteeing universal, free childcare for every family, because early education isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity.
We can pay for it by reversing wasteful tax giveaways and investing those dollars where they belong: in teachers, schools, early childhood education, and working families. Every Missouri child — from Franklin County to St. Louis County — deserves a world-class education and a fair shot at success.
Common Sense and Compassion on Immigration
Our immigration system is broken — not because of the people coming here, but because of the politics surrounding it. For generations, immigrants have built America, fueled our economy, and strengthened our communities. We need policies that reflect both our values and our needs.
That starts with creating a pathway to citizenship for law-abiding, long-term residents who already contribute to our economy and pay taxes. We must protect Dreamers, reform our asylum process, and ensure that families are never separated at our borders again. At the same time, we can secure our borders in a smart, efficient, and humane way — using technology and modern management rather than cruelty or chaos.
But we must also confront what has gone wrong. If elected, I will not vote to send one more cent to ICE until it is drastically reformed, its scope narrowed, and the practice of masked agents in unmarked vehicles tearing day laborers from their U.S.-citizen children is ended once and for all. What’s happening now is immoral, it’s a betrayal of American values, and it’s an enormous waste of taxpayer dollars that could be used to invest in local communities.
We all want immigration enforcement that makes sense — one that focuses resources on deporting violent criminals and genuine threats to public safety, not on scapegoating hardworking families who are simply trying to build better lives. True security comes from smart priorities, not political theater.
This issue is personal to me. Members of my own family immigrated here from Paganica, Italy, in search of opportunity and a better life. Like so many others, they worked hard, contributed to their community, and built something lasting for future generations. Their story is part of the American story — one of perseverance, faith, and hope. That perspective drives my commitment to reform a system that no longer reflects those values. During my time at the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, I saw firsthand how our current policies fail both those seeking opportunity and the officials tasked with managing them.
There is currently no legal pathway for many of the families fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, forcing them into dangerous and desperate circumstances. We need a system that balances security with humanity, fairness with compassion, and creates clear, legal pathways for people who want to work hard, contribute, and build a better future.
This is what it means to live up to our promise as a nation of immigrants — a promise rooted in compassion, opportunity, and the belief that hard work and hope should always be rewarded.
Fiscal Responsibility
Fiscal responsibility is not about cutting for the sake of cutting. It is about making sure every dollar we spend delivers value for the people who earned it. As a public-health scientist and data-driven policymaker, I believe that budgets are moral documents because they reveal what we value and who we serve.
That is why I will fight for efficient, transparent, and accountable government spending, ensuring taxpayer dollars go where they make the greatest difference: strengthening schools, expanding access to healthcare, fixing roads and bridges, and keeping communities safe. When we invest wisely in people, we reduce long-term costs in everything from incarceration to emergency care.
Unfortunately, some in Washington talk tough on fiscal responsibility while doing the opposite when it counts. Ann Wagner voted for Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” — a tax giveaway that added nearly $4 trillion to the national debt and overwhelmingly benefited corporations and the wealthy while doing little for working families. Meanwhile, here in Missouri, Republican leaders made our state the first in the nation to completely eliminate its capital gains tax — a policy officially estimated to cost $625 million per year in lost revenue. For what? To give millionaires another tax break while schools and childcare centers across our state struggle to stay open five days a week.
As the former chair of the Missouri Republican Party, Ann Wagner helped shape the very economic priorities now draining resources from our schools, roads, and childcare centers. We call on her to help reverse this giveaway, restore fiscal balance, and reinvest in the services working-class families rely on.
Because fiscal responsibility and compassion aren’t opposites — they’re partners in good governance. We can balance compassion with common sense by ending wasteful tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and politically connected, reviewing subsidies and loopholes that don’t create jobs or opportunity, and demanding measurable results for every dollar we spend.
I believe in a government that lives within its means, honors its commitments, and delivers real returns for the people of Missouri. Fiscal responsibility is not just about numbers. It is about trust. And restoring trust in government starts with spending the public’s money as carefully as we would spend our own.
The Clean Slate Project
Medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in America — a uniquely American injustice that punishes people for getting sick. It is not just an economic issue; it is a public health crisis. Families burdened by medical debt are three times more likely to experience depression or anxiety, and more than half of Americans say they have delayed or skipped care because of what they owe.
From a young age, I watched my parents struggle with the chronic stress of medical debt — not because they spent recklessly, but because my youngest sister was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and small fiber peripheral neuropathy. She spent months in the hospital growing up, and as a result, my family nearly lost our home. That experience shaped my understanding of how devastating and unfair medical debt can be, especially for families doing everything right but still struggling to stay afloat.
That’s why I helped launch The Clean Slate Project — an effort to eliminate qualifying medical debt across Franklin, Warren, St. Charles, and St. Louis Counties. The goal is ambitious but achievable: to wipe out nearly $18 million in medical debt by raising just under $95,000 through charitable contributions made directly to a national, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that specializes in medical-debt relief. The Clean Slate Project is operated independently as a charitable initiative and does not use campaign resources.
Because medical debt can be purchased on the secondary market for just pennies on the dollar, every contribution has an outsized impact. In our four counties, the multiplier is 1 to 187 — meaning every $1,000 contributed to the charitable organization can eliminate roughly $187,000 in qualifying medical debt, lifted off credit reports and out of people’s lives for good. Within the first 24 hours, contributions through this initiative helped eliminate more than $1.25 million in medical debt for families across our district.
This work reflects a belief that medical debt is bigger than politics — it’s about dignity, decency, and basic fairness. I’ve encouraged friends, family, neighbors, supporters, and anyone who cares about this issue to consider contributing. Even those who may never vote for me can participate, because helping families get out from under crushing medical debt is a common value shared across political lines.
Every dollar given to the charitable organization supporting The Clean Slate Project helps families start fresh, unburdened by a system that too often punishes people for circumstances beyond their control. Together, we can replace despair with dignity and debt with hope — one family, one act of compassion, one clean slate at a time.
The Clean Slate Project is operated independently as a charitable initiative, and donations made through the linked nonprofit are not campaign contributions.