We need to make sure everyone in Oregon has access to housing. The stability that comes with secure housing is vital to building strong, vibrant communities. But rising costs put this in jeopardy. We need to ensure smart investment, focused on housing which is affordable for working class and middle class families.

Here in District 31, affordable housing relative to our neighbors to the south has also been one of the keys to our economic growth, and we need to make sure we don't lose that.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted places where our healthcare system was already stressed. We need to address these shortcomings in access to care and coordinated response.

Oregon is doing many things well on healthcare, but the situation is very different with mental health. We are rated 46th overall in the nation, and we are especially failing our youth in rural areas. We must invest in our mental health providers and access to care.

More on healthcare…

Every child deserves access to a high quality education; we owe it to our children to make sure we provide it. I’ll always work for students, parents, and teachers to make sure we’re doing that. That starts with investing in our teachers.

We also need to make sure that higher education is keeping pace with the needs of our community. We need to make college more affordable to more people, and we need to make sure we’re supporting apprenticeships and similar programs.

The nation is experiencing the fastest growth in jobs and wages we've seen in decades. But we know not every community shares equally in that growth, and too often rural communities are left behind.

We need to make sure that investment, from all levels of government, takes into account the community impact of the types of jobs we’re creating, and we should be working for lasting, family-wage jobs.

We’re also seeing the biggest resurgence in the labor movement in a generation. We should be encouraging this with preferential policies when awarding government contracts.

Climate change is here. Between record heat waves, smoke-filled air, and warming rivers, it's impacting our lives today. We need bold action, coordinated between every level of government and the private sector, if we're going to change the course we're on and make sure the effects don't continue to worsen.