Our Positive Vision for Chesapeake and Suffolk

“Stability, Opportunity, Choices”

I love policy. The highlight of my college education was working with the government of Grenada to recommend sustainable growth policies addressing sea level rise and extreme weather—policies driven by conversations with the people most impacted. To me, there’s nothing as satisfying as looking at a real problem, looking at the data around it, and then working together to find a practical solution. But policy is not just a data science, it’s a reflection of values. Put another way, we have to decide what kind of community we want before we can figure out what policies help us get there. So, what kind of community do we want here in Chesapeake and Suffolk?

If you read the title above, you’ve probably guessed our answer. Firstly, we want a community with stability. We want to know that we’re not one medical bill or job loss away from disaster. We want to know our home is secure and we won’t lose it in the next storm. We want to know that the things we need are not about to double in price. We want to feel safer, less stressed, and in control of our lives.

We want opportunities—not just for ourselves, but for our family and our neighbors. That means good schools for our kids, access to jobs that pay a living wage, and the chance to learn new skills or change careers. But opportunity is about more than just jobs and education. It’s about protecting our Great Dismal Swamp so we can enjoy the beauty of nature. It’s about libraries, museums, and cultural programs that bring art and creativity into our lives. It means a world within reach.

And we want choices. We don’t want to be stuck in a job we hate or trapped in a healthcare network with only one doctor. We want the freedom to get a second opinion, visit a specialist, or even explore a new career path. It means the ability to love who you want, to marry who you want, to lead your life on your terms, so long as you don’t stop others from doing the same. It means abortion access and fertility treatment. It means breaking up monopolies so consumers have more and better options. It means government transparency, so voters have the ability to make informed decisions.

In a nutshell, we want a government that works for us—well-functioning, cooperative, and focused on helping us feel happier and less stressed. Now that we know where we want to go, let’s delve into how we get there.

BETTER WAGES

An honest day’s work deserves an honest wage. Virginians are dedicated, hardworking people who deserve to share in the wealth that their work generates. CLICK HERE for our policies to help working Virginians not just get by but get ahead.

  • We should raise the minimum wage to $17/hr, indexed to inflation & productivity increases, at the very least. Per the MIT Wage Calculator, that is the minimum amount a person in Hampton Roads can live on.
  • We should fund paid family & sick leave for small businesses, and mandate it for large businesses. This funding for small businesses will help them compete for quality employees with larger corporations while ensuring that all Virginians have the right to care for themselves and their children.
  • The minimum wage should be just that, and restaurants shouldn’t be able to pay subminimum wage by pointing to tips, which are never constant. Tips are a bonus, not salary.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.

LOWER COSTS

An extra $10 in your pocket doesn’t mean much if prices go up by $20. Whether it’s groceries, gas, housing, or healthcare, CLICK HERE for some of our policies to ensure you not only survive, but thrive, on your paycheck.

  • We can eliminate the Grocery Tax, aka the Flat Sales Tax, which makes essential living more expensive, and replace it with a graduated tax on Luxury Goods. This will make life more affordable without gutting revenue.
  • We should curb Private Equity ownership of single-family homes. Private equity firms could still construct, remodel, and sell, but we would disallow their buying up and holding houses to create artificial shortages in our housing supply and drive up prices. Individuals’ ability to hold investment properties would be unimpacted.
  • We will cap the costs of Insulin and other prescription drugs through a medication price negotiation board.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.

UNIONS

Unions built the middle class, and the attack on unions has been the primary driver of middle class erosion. When a workplace becomes unionized, incomes rise, working conditions improve, and the quality of the work improves. If you want a job done right, hire union. CLICK HERE for some of our policies to keep Virginia’s unions strong.

  • We must repeal Right-To-Work laws. What everyone knows but no one says is that “Right to Work” is simply a euphemism for union busting. The line we’re fed: unions get in the way of your right to choose and negotiate your work. The truth: without a legal framework that supports unionization, employers hold so much power that real negotiation between management and their hard working employees becomes near impossible.
  • Being pro-union means being pro-workers’ rights. For that reason, even though non-compete clauses are more than a union issue, we raise them here. We believe non-compete agreements are designed to handcuff workers more than protect trade secrets, which can be protected perfectly well through non-disclosure agreements. We should completely ban non-compete agreements giving workers the ability to switch jobs more easily and more leverage to negotiate better contracts.
  • We shall enshrine the Right to Collective Bargaining into the State Constitution. We want Virginia to be home to the most competitive companies in the country, and we believe companies that support their workers and communities are just that. A pro-union state is both pro-worker and pro-business.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.

CRISIS AID

Whether it’s a medical crisis, a sudden loss of employment, or a fire, unexpected crises can hit us all. Having a government that can step in to help ride out these proverbial storms doesn’t just help those people who need a little help getting through a rough patch. It gives all of us the piece of mind that, God forbid, we would have a hand up if bad luck came for us. CLICK HERE for some of our policies around expecting the unexpected.

  • We can create a universal jobs guarantee and revitalize our communities by establishing a Civic Jobs Employment Corps that will connect people who want a job improving our community with work doing just that, whether it’s maintaining our public spaces or giving clerical assistance. These jobs can be structured to allow people the flexibility to do them while seeking other employment (e.g. time off for job interviews).
  • To combat homelessness, we should implement the Housing First method, which has been proven to be both cost-effective and successful. In essence, the idea is to get someone into stable, permanent housing ASAP and then address the other issues at play, such as addiction, job-seeking, or budgeting. All evidence suggests that this triage, ranked urgency of needs approach is most effective for the individual in crisis and the community.
  • Our police are brave and hardworking individuals who do their best to handle a variety of difficult situations, but there are some situations which we should not expect them to tackle on their own. We should fund mental health professionals to support police when responding to mental health emergencies. When a mental health crisis leads to a 911 call, a mental health professional should arrive on the scene.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.

EDUCATION

Universal education regardless of family wealth is one of the greatest American achievements, and we must protect and build on this legacy. It is our ladder to opportunity, but it is about more than building employment skills – it is about molding and empowering the citizens of tomorrow. Unfortunately, schools in Chesapeake and Suffolk have been going in the wrong direction for a while. Considering that, once elected, I will have the General Assembly’s only memory of being a Virginia public school student during Covid, it should come as no surprise that I have a lot of knowledge on what needs to be done. CLICK HERE for just a few of our policies for teaching our students how to thrive.

  • We should restore K-12 funding to pre-recession (2008) levels adjusted for inflation. This restoration was planned for 2020 but canceled due to Covid. Now is the time to return these much needed funds for our students.
  • Childhood and adolescence are times of mental challenges under the best of times, but our current generation is having a particularly rough go. We should establish a K-12 mental wellness curriculum to be taught as part of our health courses. This isn’t a cure-all for our mental health crisis, but it will make a big difference.
  • Rather than respond to student conflicts through reactive punishments, we should develop a K-12 Proactive Discipline framework. This means focusing on conflict resolution and teaching de-escalation techniques. Think of it like preventative health care for behavior.
  • For many students, college is the next step after K-12, but not for all. Some may prefer apprenticing into a trade. We should promote summer apprenticeship programs so students can explore this option before graduating high school.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.

VETERANS

When service members have had America’s back, America should have theirs. Between Langley and Naval Station Norfolk, Hampton Roads has more than its share of American heroes. CLICK HERE for some of our policies around giving our veterans the support they have earned.

  • The VMSDEP (Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program) is a fantastic program that has unfortunately come under attack. In essence, it helps with education costs for family members of disabled or killed in action service members. This program must be protected. Examining the costs is fine, cutting the program is not.
  • We should expand Medicare eligibility so that all veterans who qualify for the VA also qualify for Medicare and thereby have the option of going outside the VA if their care requires it.
  • We should expand the Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Program to ensure ease for small-to-medium sized businesses to effectively onboard and recruit transitioning veterans.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.



BALANCED GROWTH

The 89th is a remarkable place to live because of our unique composition. Large swaths of our district are family farms and untouched forests that are easily accessible for our suburban and urban neighborhoods. It’s a makeup unlike anything else in this state. We can preserve this beloved balance while developing smartly so both the rural and the urban thrive beside each other. CLICK HERE for some of our policies to strengthen all of our communities.

  • We should facilitate the expansion of manufacturing in Hampton Roads in competitive regional markets including offshore wind. We can accomplish this by investing in trade certification programs to build a talent base while scouting and preparing ideal sites to be shovel ready and sold to prospective corporations looking to move in.
  • We should set statewide farmland preservation targets for municipalities to abide by, similar to how we currently balance growth with Chesapeake Bay preservation. Municipalities would be free to determine how best to implement these given their local development needs.
  • The Chesapeake Square Mall area needs revitalization, and that revitalization should proceed with a plan toward creating something sustainable while bringing the current businesses and residents along for the ride. We should incentivize a dual-focus on housing and business development with provisions on percentage affordable housing, local business ownership, and guaranteed right-to-return for existing occupants.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.

GOVERNMENT ACCESSIBILITY & TRANSPARENCY

Governing a commonwealth the size of Virginia is a complex process. As with any intricate machine, it requires regular maintenance and updates to function smoothly. We, the voters, who are both the bosses and operators of government, require full transparency into the systems in place so that we may diagnose and repair the inevitable malfunctions that arise. CLICK HERE for a few of our policies to improve government operation and keep us in control.

  • Virginia has among the most lax campaign finance laws in the country. We should enact sweeping campaign finance reforms including prohibiting personal use of campaign funds and capping donor contributions per campaign.
  • Virginia currently has a bipartisan redistricting commission, which sounds great in theory but is actually a waste of time and money because they can never agree on a map. So, the redistricting always winds up in the hands of the courts, just as it did before the commission’s creation . We should skip this dance by replacing the bipartisan redistricting commission with a nonpartisan redistricting commission.
  • Currently, Richmond legislators can disguise their identities while pushing for unpopular policies by attaching anonymous amendments to the state budget. We should end this practice by mandating public disclosure of authorship for all state budget amendments.

And that’s just the start of what we can do.