People ask me why I am running. I am one of three children who was raised by a working class, single mother who worked as a truck stop waitress for tips. Growing up, we never knew the struggles our mother faced daily. Now, she is 83 years old living on a fixed income.

Lobbyists, special interests, and corporate PACs control Washington. I feel led to fight for North Carolina families. I feel led to fight for you, the hard working constituents of District 13. Washington, DC politicians have forgotten about us. I'm running to be the public servant we need representing us. I see our communities, neighbors, and friends struggling in the richest country God has ever created.  We live in Two Americas: the extreme rich and everybody else. 

With your support, I am running for Congress to lower the healthcare costs that are bankrupting our families.  I am running to strengthen our public schools.  I am running to cut middle class taxes to help our families and small businesses succeed.  I am running because the working class doesn't have a voice in Washington, D.C.  I truly understand your needs, because I am part of the working class. I will focus on the needs of my district.  I will work for you.

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JOBS, wages & economic reform

District 13 deserves better paying jobs. Throughout the district, I hear from constituents who have a full time job that doesn't cover all the bills. To make up for this, they are sometimes working 2 or 3 part time jobs.

I will fight for:

• The Paycheck Fairness Act.
• Equal pay for Equal work.
• Increase the federal minimum wage to ensure a livable wage tied to inflation.
• Create economic policies to level the playing field for people of color, women, and lower-income families.
• Eradicate wage discrimination based age, race, or gender.
• Job training and partnerships with union apprenticeship programs.
• Support unions by restoring the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain without employer interference and intimidation.
• Recruit and attract 21st century, high-tech clean energy jobs
• Support investment to upgrade infrastructure and mass transit systems.
• Reform payday lending and other predatory lending practices.
• Support paid maternity and paternity leave.
• Expand funding for subsidized and affordable child care.

Healthcare and Prescription drug costs

Healthcare costs should not bankrupt families. 90% of women who have cancer end up in bankruptcy. Insulin costs should not be more than your monthly car payment or rent.

I will fight for:

• Health care should be a right, not a privilege.
• Expand Medicaid in North Carolina.
• Reduce drug costs.
• Bring mental health services to all health care facilities, decrease the stigma of mental health diagnoses, and restore a budget for mental health research.
• Prioritize funding for cancer therapy and cancer research.
• Reproductive health care for all, including access to birth control and reproductive rights.
• An end to the opioid crisis
  • Pass the CARE Act, which would expand funding for treatment, support, and research.
  • Address the opioid crisis as a public health issue.
    • Appropriate funding to research alternative treatments to pain management.
    • Educate health care providers about new initiatives for treatment and alternatives to opioids.
  • Expand access and funding for treatment facilities in communities that need them most.
  • Increase the use of Naloxone by first responders. Naloxone is a life-saving medication that reverses overdoses and can save lives.

Cutting taxes for the middle Class

The working class are paying more tax per capita than the wealthiest 1%. ​The deck is stacked against working class families. Too many loopholes and tax breaks have gone to the ultra-wealthy and the biggest corporations. Our country is built on the promise that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead.

I will fight for:

• Tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses in the 13th district.
• Repeal the permanent tax breaks for the extreme rich and corporations. Increase taxes on the wealthiest 1%.
• Middle class tax cuts and policies that will level the playing field for hardworking North Carolinians.

Clean air & Water

I'm a technology entrepreneur. I know we can protect our environment while creating good jobs right here in North Carolina. We need to break our addiction to fossil fuels or we will destroy our planet and our children's future.

I believe we can move to clean energy and power 80% all purposes within a decade. This means we deploy clean energy technology such as solar and wind power generating systems throughout District 13.

We need leaders who will stand up and fight to protect our state. I will fight for clean air and water and I will fight to preserve North Carolina's natural beauty.

Public education

I am a product of North Carolina public schools, and I understand education is the pathway to opportunity. I know teachers inspire the lives of their students. I believe every child in North Carolina's District 13 should be able to go to a great public school no matter where they live.

Politicians are cutting federal funding to our public schools.

I will fight to increase teacher pay at the federal level. I will advocate for reduced classroom sizes, fund early childhood education and alternatives to four-year college degrees — alternatives like community college and job training programs that will train North Carolinians for the jobs of tomorrow without crippling debt.

I will fight to: 

• End the school to prison pipeline with innovative programs that support students, parents and teachers.
• Support the increase of public school funding to build new schools, reduce overcrowding, and enhance learning opportunities.
• Create federal teaching programs to attract and retain the best teachers possible.
• Support reducing student loan debt and capping interest rates going forward.
• Provide tuition-free public universities, technical and vocational colleges.
• Recruit public institutions of higher learning into the district.
• Mandatory financial literacy classes in high school curriculum.
• Increase teacher pay and support for classroom materials.

Protecting and Advancing Everybody’s Rights

Racial Justice

• Voting Rights
  • Restoring the Voting Rights Act
  • Passing automatic voter registration legislation
  • Ending the practice of gerrymandering through establishing independent redistricting committees
  • Making Election Day a federal holiday
• Reforming the broken criminal justice system
  • End the Death Penalty
  • End the War on Drugs once and for all
  • Remove marijuana as a Schedule I Controlled Substance
  • Expungement of marijuana convictions  
  • Support a restorative justice program 
  • Sentencing reform and realignment
  • Ending cash bail in court systems
  • Advancing fair housing and racial equity through housing and community development policies and programs
• Economic Justice
  • Creating jobs for every American through empowering trade schools for all infrastructure projects across District 13
  • Enforcing affordable housing requirements and creating pathways to income growth by means of home ownership

LGBTQ+ Rights

• Supporting the Equality Act, which would guarantee legal protections to anyone that identifies as LGBTQ+
• Full inclusion of all students in all spaces and discussions–including LGBTQ+ students, students with diverse religious or racial backgrounds, and students with disabilities–through full integration

Supporting People with Disabilities

• Increase access to Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) by passing the Disability Integration Act (H.R.555)
• Fully implement and enforce the ADA, mandate all buildings follow it, and ensure there is proper funding allocated to guarantee these updates are executed properly
• Set and enforce goals for inclusivity in all classrooms so students with disabilities aren’t forced to learn in isolation. Currently, about 63% of students with disabilities spend 80% of the school day in integrated classrooms, and we should increase that standard by updating federal law.
• End the sub-minimum wage. People with disabilities deserve a living wage, and there is no justification for paying them only a few dollars per hour.
• People with disabilities continue to face barriers to transportation. I support installing proper ramps, improving audible cues with all trains and buses, and providing a more accurate tracking system through software so people can plan their transportation more efficiently.

Women

• Supporting ERA, removing the arbitrary deadline, and working to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment
• Protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all
• Working to repeal the Hyde Amendment
• Fighting for paid family leave

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

We have wasted enough time ignoring immigration reform. Too many people and families have been hurt by our government's inaction. 

I will fight to:

• Expedite the path to citizenship for Dreamers  
• Immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for current residents and protects immigrant workers from exploitation
• End family separations and reinstate normal asylum procedures 
• Reinstate foreign aid to Latin American countries
• Support working with African, Latin American, Caribbean countries as strategic and economic partners to stem the influx of those fleeing from danger and extreme poverty

Veterans and Military Families

Service to our county is rooted in my family history.  I served in the U.S. Navy, and my family members have served in Iraq, Vietnam, World War II & I, and the Civil War.  I owe my independence and my entrepreneurial spirit to my service in the U.S. Navy.

I will fight to:

• Stop the privatization of veterans’ health care
• Expand outreach and funding to eliminate veteran homelessness
• Stem the suicide crisis with a bottom up approach
• Create a robust plan for veteran job assistance
• Reduce the time and paperwork for medical benefits determination
• End all deportations for veterans who have served honorably
• Restore the honorable status of LGBTQ+ members who were dishonorably discharge under "don't ask, don't tell."  This will ensure these veterans can receive their justly earned benefits.

Medicare, Medicaid & Social Security

North Carolina seniors have worked to save for their retirement over a lifetime of hard work. Protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will be my top priority.

The Trump 2020 budget has plans to cut Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. 

Politicians are eager to slash these vital programs or spend so much that we won’t be able to keep our promises going forward. We need common sense to protect our current seniors and ensure that those retiring in the years to come will also have a safety net.

I will oppose any efforts by corporate special interests to turn Medicare into a risky voucher program and any efforts to turn Social Security over to the stock market and gamble seniors’ retirement.

Legalization of marijuana & Medical use

Legalization Marijuana is common sense. Public opinion has changed. A solid majority of Americans support legalization.

The War on Drugs is a war against communities of color. For decades, people of color have been disproportionately prosecuted for possessing and using. Communities of color have been sent to prison for selling marijuana more than any other group. I will support vacating convictions and expunge past marijuana convictions.

Legalization of marijuana will have economic image and opportunities for rural farmers and small businesses throughout District 13 and North Carolina.

I believe tax revenue collected from marijuana sales should be reinvested into communities providing educational, trade, arts, and mental health services.

I support medical use of marijuana as an alternative for Veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Common sense Gun reform

I support the 2nd Amendment.  I will fight to protect the rights of responsible gun ownership.  That's a pledge you can count on.

When I attended school, we had fire drills and tornado drills, not active shooter drills. We need to do a better job for our children. That's common sense.

I support H.R.8 and universal background checks for all gun sales.

Owning a car requires driving lessons, state licensing and insurance. I don't think it's unreasonable to require gun safety training, state licensing, and insurance every four years. This is part of being a responsible gun owner.

I will fight for:
Red flag laws

• Prevent purchases of firearms by people who are demonstrating threatening behavior in-person, people who have restraining orders or have been arrested on assault, battery/other threatening behavior on social media, or a history/pattern of making threatening statements
• Require those convicted of domestic violence, known criminals, terrorists, and those under court orders of protection to turn in their guns

Rural broadband

Children should not have to go to a local McDonald's for broadband access to complete their homework.

In 1995, I started a dial-up internet access business. I grew that business to over 3000 customers and a dozen employees.  Unfortunately, anti-competitive behavior of telecom monopolies, lobbyists, and politicians changed the rules in favor of big telecom, which prevented my expansion into broadband.  This is why rural areas of North Carolina do not have Broadband. Why? Because the cost to deliver rural broadband to those areas does not have enough profit for the big mega corporations.

The benefits of of broadband for rural communities could not be made more clear. It provides struggling businesses access in a competitive market. Mom and pop shops or home-based businesses can expand their market and reach across the nation.

Libraries, education, health care, and rural farmers gain real-time access to vital information. 

I will fight to expand high speed internet through copper, fiber, satellite and wireless technologies. I will work to increase public awareness of the benefits of broadband internet. I will work to keep the price in underserved rural communities affordable.

End citizens united

Money and dark money has reshaped the very nature of our government and damaged our democracy. Politicians have access to unlimited funds. Do they work for their constituents, or do they work for their extreme rich donors? The game is rigged, folks. If you don't have large sums of money, you can't win an election.

I have pledged not to accept Corporate PAC money, and I will be transparent of all monies this campaign receives. 

I will work with End Citizens United and restore our republic as our founding fathers intended. I will fight the unlimited money poisoning politics.

MY VOTE IS NOT FOR SALE!!

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