My Priorities During the 2024 Legislative Session:
VOTING RIGHTS
The right to vote is foundational to citizenship in a democracy. Voter fraud is extremely rare, yet our state legislature continues to pass laws that burden voters and restrict access to the ballot. I oppose any effort to suppress voting because democracy only works when everyone participates.
HEALTHCARE
Georgia’s failure to fully expand Medicaid has put the physical and financial well-being of too many Georgians at risk. From Georgia’s high rates of infant and maternal mortality to the vulnerabilities the COVID-19 pandemic exposed, Georgia’s underinvestment in the health of its own citizens must end. In the legislature, I will work to fully expand Medicaid, because Georgians have the right to quality, affordable healthcare.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Local governments, not the state legislature, should make decisions on matters of local concern, such as crafting policy to combat city gun violence, transitioning to clean energy, altering local confederate monuments, and regulating short term rentals. Yet our state legislature increasingly preempts duly-elected local leaders from enacting policy that addresses the needs of their communities. Recent efforts by state lawmakers to redraw local reapportionment maps and to allow state takeover of local elections boards are a disturbing acceleration of this trend. I oppose efforts by the state legislature to usurp the power of local governments.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
I support every woman’s right to access a full range of reproductive healthcare services. Reproductive healthcare is essential in order for women to maintain their own health and in order to be the loving, present, and responsible parents their children deserve. I believe sex education should be evidence-based, contraception should be accessible to all Georgians, prenatal and postnatal care should be comprehensive, and decisions about whether and when to become a mother are decisions the women of Georgia can and should make for themselves.
CLIMATE
As a coastal community, Savannah has the potential to be significantly affected by sea level rise. I support efforts to transition from fossil fuels to alternative sources of energy because a changing climate requires a change in our energy priorities. Coastal Georgia needs a comprehensive coastal resilience plan that views climate change through an equity lens, because, if unchecked, the effects of climate change and sea level rise will be inequitable.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Georgia’s criminal justice reform efforts of the 2010s are a bipartisan success story. Accountability courts, reform of the juvenile justice system, reduction in sentencing for nonviolent offenders, and assistance with prisoner reentry into society have reduced Georgia’s prison population, dropped prison admissions of African-Americans to historic lows, kept families together, and saved Georgians millions of dollars. Criminal justice reform should be preserved and expanded, not rolled back.
GUN SAFETY
Georgia needs common sense gun laws, including background checks on all gun sales, the single most effective policy for reducing gun violence across all categories. I support prohibiting firearm possession by domestic abusers so that Georgia can reduce its high rates of domestic violence homicide. And Georgia must repeal Stand Your Ground for the same reasons that it repealed Citizen’s Arrest, because it disproportionately harms Black Georgians, while making all Georgians less safe.
EDUCATION
Public schools are a public good that benefit every citizen of Georgia, regardless of whether they are a public school student or parent. Every Georgia child deserves access to a quality K-12 education in a neighborhood school, including pre-K. In the legislature, I will protect and expand access to quality K-12 education as well as the best opportunities for college and technical training. I will work to fully fund education, giving teachers and schools the resources they need, and I will oppose efforts to divert public dollars from public schools.