Elected Experience: Democratic State Representative, 43rd Legislative District (Seattle). Co-sponsored sweeping climate change legislation. Pa**ed bipartisan legislation to expand mental health access, combat h**n addiction, reduce incarceration. Pa**ed innovative policies on transportation, retirement security, housing, healthcare, reproductive rights, economic development, arts/culture. “Legislator of the Year” – Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance. 100% record with Washington Conservation Voters, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, NARAL Pro-Choice WA.
Other Professional Experience: Fulbright Scholar; AmeriCorps; Founder, Proyecto Villa Nueva; Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading partnerships to improve food security and nutrition internationally.
Education: Princeton University, A.B., Public andInternational Affairs.
Community Service: No information submitted
Statement: I am proud to call the Northwest home. Our growing and innovative region has so much to offer our country, whose national government is too often in gridlock. I ran for Congress because my generation of Americans is inheriting a future that is not sustainable.
We need a generation of visionary, effective leaders who will champion our progressive values and work together to deliver on local priorities: transportation, education, housing and homelessness. We need leaders who will stand boldly for reproductive rights, gun responsibility, and our climate.
I grew up in rural Washington, in the Nooksack Valley. My mother, a public school teacher, immigrated from Cuba. My father's family has called the Northwest home for generations. My husband, Micah, a marine biologist, inspires my commitment to action on climate change. Family shapes the values I hold today - my grandparents met in 1947 at the Quaker Meeting in north Seattle, after my grandmother returned from building homes in Hiroshima after the bomb. I stand for a foreign policy where war is always the last resort.
My record in Olympia reflects the leadership I will bring to Congress. I've built bipartisan coalitions to pa** landmark legislation, from mental health and criminal justice to housing and transportation. That's why I've earned the support of far more elected colleagues than any other candidate in this race.
I'm proud to be endorsed by over 35 colleagues in the Washington legislature, national leaders like Congressman Barney Frank, Young Democrats of Washington, 46th and 36th District Democrats, Boeing Machinists Union, environmental advocates, Seattle City Councilors Sally Bagshaw, Tim Burgess, Lorena Gonzalez, Debora Juarez, Mayors of Edmonds and Mukilteo, and leaders from business to labor who believe that I will bring strong Northwest values to Congress and work together to deliver on our priorities at home.