I will continue advancing policies that expand access to affordable, high-quality care, lowering prescription drug prices, protecting reproductive healthcare, strengthening public health systems, and addressing gaps in care for underserved Mainers in our communities.

I will keep pushing for stronger state investment in education to ease the burden on local property taxpayers in Scarborough and Gorham, particularly those on fixed income who deserve our support in keeping members of our community in their homes, while ensuring every student has access to high-quality public schools, building on the progress we’ve made while focusing on long-term affordability.

That’s one reason I am proud to be endorsed by Maine Education Association in this State Senate campaign.

In the Senate, I will build on my work to strengthen civil rights protections, protecting Maine residents from federal targeting of our immigrant neighbors, overreach against LGBTQIA* Mainers, and structural racism against Black and Brown Mainers, while advancing criminal justice reform, increasing transparency and accountability, and ensuring all in our state are treated with dignity and fairness under the law.

I will continue leading efforts to protect and expand reproductive freedom, building on legislation I’ve advanced to safeguard access to care and ensure that personal healthcare decisions remain with individuals, not politicians.

In the Senate, I will continue working to lower costs, strengthen worker protections, and hold large corporations accountable, building an economy that works for people, not special interests.

I strongly support Maine’s Red Flag law, strengthening our background check laws, a waiting period before purchase of guns, safe storage laws to protect young people and those experiencing a mental health crisis, banning assault weapons and bum-stocks, and closing the gun show loophole, among many others.

I also believe deeply that we need to follow the evidence about what actually reduces gun violence. Good policy should save lives, but it should also avoid unintended consequences that in practice criminalize poverty or disproportionately harm communities of color.

After the horrific mass shooting in Lewiston, like so many Mainers, I was heartbroken. Our state was grieving. Families were shattered. Communities were afraid. And in the middle of that grief, I kept thinking about our young people.

Not long after the shooting, I had the chance to sit down with young people in Lewiston and listen to them. I heard fear in their voices. I heard frustration. I heard students talk about what it feels like to grow up in a world where gun violence is not an abstract political issue, but a real fear in their classrooms, neighborhoods, and public spaces.

What stayed with me most was how many of them felt unheard. They felt like adults talk about their safety without truly listening to them. They felt like leaders debate gun violence as if it is just another issue, while young people are the ones carrying the fear every day.

I carried those conversations with me when I worked on gun reform. When I spoke up for stronger protections, I thought about those students. I thought about the responsibility we have to make sure young people can go to school, gather with friends, and live in their communities without wondering whether they are safe.

At the same time, I believe gun safety policy must be thoughtful, evidence-based, and carefully designed. There are instances where well-intended proposals are not supported by strong data or create unintended consequences. We know that legislation relying too heavily on criminal penalties can disproportionately affect poor and working people, people of color, immigrants, and others who already face barriers in our society. That is why we must be clear-eyed about both the problem we are trying to solve and the consequences of the tools we choose.

That commitment to evidence-based policy is one reason I supported Maine’s red flag law referendum and supported my mom, who helped collect signatures to put the measure before voters. Maine people approved it at the ballot box. What struck me is that during my second term in the Legislature, in the months after the Lewiston shooting, Maine lawmakers refused to even bring that same legislation to a floor vote. That was deeply disappointing, particularly because it became painfully clear to me that we cannot afford to ignore complex policies that have the potential to save lives simply because they are politically difficult. Maine people understood that, even if the status quo in Augusta did not.

Gun safety requires us to balance public policy concerns, including public safety, economic justice, and racial justice. These conversations are not always easy, but they are necessary. We owe it to Maine people to approach them with honesty, nuance, and a willingness to grapple with complexity rather than retreat into slogans or partisan talking points. I have supported the majority of gun safety bills before me in my three terms in the Maine House. But when I disagree, I do so for legitimate reasons rooted in equity and evidence.

I later returned to meet with the same group of young people in Lewiston. This time, we worked together on their own versions of gun reform legislation. They shared ideas, debated solutions, and challenged one another respectfully.

Those conversations reminded me that young people deserve more than our sympathy after a tragedy or the conviction of our words. They deserve action. And they deserve leaders willing to have difficult conversations about how we can make their communities safer, and to see bills become law to make that happen.

For me, gun reform is ultimately about protecting Maine families and fulfilling a basic responsibility of public service. It is about listening when young people tell us they are afraid, taking their concerns seriously, and being willing to do the hard work of finding viable and evidenced solutions.

These are difficult conversations, and reasonable people will sometimes disagree about the best path forward. But Maine children deserve leaders who are willing to engage with those conversations rather than avoid them, or dismiss legitimate concerns of social justice in poorly written though well-intended policy.

That is why I will continue working toward thoughtful, evidence-based gun safety policies. Because every child deserves the chance to grow up feeling safe and heard.

I will keep pushing to strengthen tribal sovereignty and self-determination for the Wabanaki Nations, building on ongoing efforts to address historic inequities and support economic opportunity and respect for tribal governance.