Where Democrats running in Wake’s new congressional district stand on 5 key issues

Keep; Expand

Explain your response. What is your plan for expanding affordable health care to more Americans?

The Affordable Care Act isn’t perfect and improvements need to be made, but we cannot go back to the days where insurance companies ran the show. We need to create a comprehensive public option for health insurance, ensuring that all people have affordable and equitable access to care. I have worked successfully to require health care companies to cover basic services like contraception, mental health, and autism treatment. I helped expand coverage for children’s health care, and I fought to expand Medicaid coverage for over 500,000 uninsured North Carolinians and provide relief for our rural hospitals facing closures. In Congress, I will continue to prioritize health care by protecting coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, expand access to care, and I will work to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Explain your response. What is your plan for expanding affordable health care to more Americans?

Working towards a Medicare for All healthcare system

Explain your response.

People should be able to keep their insurance if they are satisfied with their coverage, but we need to create a robust public option to compete with private coverage, expanding care and bringing costs down. I have always fought to protect and expand health care, and in Congress, I will work to ensure that all people have affordable and accessible health care from the day they are born until the day they die.

Explain your response.

I am supporting it because Americans deserve to live their lives, without the fear of a sickness or surgery that will bankrupt them. Medicare for All would reduce costs across the board for everyone that isn’t a multi millionaire. If it is implemented in a year, or if we phase into this solution. I will support it because American lives are at risk and now is the time to act.

Explain your response and how you would work to stop or limit illegal immigration.

Nothing is more important to me than keeping all families safe and secure. I am willing to consider any common sense proposal on how to make our country safer, but border enforcement does not require a physical wall. Demonizing immigrants and turning to the politics of fear-mongering does nothing to keep us safe and only serves to divide us. Those who cross our border must be treated with humanity. In Congress, we must put aside partisan differences to reform our immigration system in a way that respects our border and meets our country’s economic needs, while providing a fair pathway to citizenship and keeping families together.

Explain your response and how you would work to stop or limit illegal immigration.

We need to create a pathway to citizenship for those who have built their lives and live in the United States. In order to address immigration, we must reform the process to provide asylum and sanctuary for refugees of violence and instability. To curb illegal immigration we should invest in smart technologies to monitor our southern border to know who is coming in our country, and create a humane environment for immigrants. But under no circumstances should we build a wall on the southern border.

What should the government do (or not do) to combat the effects of climate change?

Climate change is one of the most imminent threats facing our country, and we must take immediate action to address it. I have been a champion on environmental and climate issues, voting repeatedly to support clean energy, oppose fracking, and address climate change in North Carolina. We must modernize our electric grid to increase the distribution of renewable energy and we need to create incentives to expedite battery storage for intermittent renewable resources. These measures will reduce our need to use fossil fuels for energy. I helped grow the state’s clean energy sector, creating tens of thousands of jobs in our state, and in Congress, I will continue to combat what has become an international crisis and move us forward.

What should the government do (or not do) to combat the effects of climate change?

Time is running out to address this climate crisis and we need to act now to create a path to a 100% renewable energy system and work to eliminate all carbon emissions.

Yes, I support the USMCA trade agreement. We know prioritizing corporations over people weakens labor, environmental, and public health protections, and trade policy is no different. Putting partisan politics aside and seeking input from working people, this Congress was able to pass the USMCA trade agreement. While not perfect, the USMCA trade agreement eliminates special carve outs for corporations and provides enforceable standards for workers. To compete globally and create more jobs here at home, we must increase the minimum wage, pass true equal pay laws, invest in education and infrastructure, and expand Medicaid.

The USMCA that has passed the Democratic controlled House has better provisions to help our domestic labor force and improve wages. But, I do not think it goes as far as it should go to give American workers the edge that they need in the years to come. Our domestic product output could have been higher in the agreement, our wage protections should have been higher in the agreement, and worker safety provisions can always be improved. But, I do believe that it is an improvement over NAFTA and I would have voted for it because it does provide improvement.