Building care infrastructure and economic equity
What do you see as the biggest barriers and challenges facing the care work industry and care workers, and what are your top policy priorities to address the challenges?
“I outlined an education plan that was focused both on early-stage education and kids. It was focused on how do we support teachers, but it was also about how do we support more and better training, so that there are better partnerships between schools, higher education, employers, but also high schools and middle schools to create pipelines of kids into high-need fields like childcare and healthcare. I think the punchline is, we're going to have to be very nimble. The federal government is going to continue to throw challenges and cuts at us on a regular basis.”
"The federal government is going to continue to throw challenges and cuts at us on a regular basis.”
Ensuring reproductive and gender-specific healthcare
What do you see as the biggest barriers and challenges facing access to consistent, high-quality perinatal care, and what are your top policy priorities to address those barriers and challenges?
“On workforce, you know, you can't keep a unit open without people to staff it. And I think there are, again, lots of examples where you can have loan repayment solutions, scholarship programs, so we have more OBGYNs, more certified nurse midwives. And labor and delivery nurses who would commit to practicing in rural Maine… I think we've made some progress on telehealth. It can increase access to specialists, it can increase monitoring, it can reduce the sort of this fragmented care. It can give people an opportunity to have a lot more care without having to drive two hours back and forth to a hospital every time.”
“[Telehealth] can give people an opportunity to have a lot more care without having to drive two hours back and forth to a hospital every time.”
Ending gender-based and carceral violence
What do you see as key policy interventions to support sexual assault, domestic violence survivors, and protect access to these services?
“This is about public safety to me. Domestic violence is a leading cause of homicide in Maine. It drives foster care placements, substance abuse, homelessness, mental health issues, trips to the ER. We may never end domestic abuse, but we should make sure that we really do support survivors as much as we can. The VOCA and VAWA cuts are certainly concerning.”
“We may never end domestic abuse, but we should make sure that we really do support survivors as much as we can.”
Developing equitable & accessible government systems
How do you think the tax structure and or state budget can be used to create more gender equity and reduce disparities?
“I don't feel confident or comfortable making tax or budget commitments, but I think there are some low-cost and leadership opportunities that will help make a difference, regardless of the financial situation we're in. And I think it's around how do we make sure that working families aren't feeling so squeezed? How do we help on childcare, housing, healthcare, everyday expenses? Especially because most of those pressures fall disproportionately on women, especially caregivers.”
“How do we make sure that working families aren't feeling so squeezed? How do we help on childcare, housing, healthcare, everyday expenses?”
Other notable quotes
“I think it's really important, and this is what my campaign is really about, is how do we lower costs for Maine families so that people who don't have the resources that they have can still afford heat, housing, healthcare, taxes, and how do they have some hope that they can get through there every day? And that starts a lot with, how do we have better economic development, but how do we focus on lowering costs so that people can get through these moments. I would, put this in a place where I've got… I'm wide open to good ideas.”