Currently pursuing a B.S. in Legal Studies, minor in Criminal Justice, Stevenson University, 2023

At-Large Member, Baltimore County Democratic State Central Committee, 2020- Present Commissioner, Baltimore County School Board Nominating Commission, 2019- 2021

What is the most pressing issue in your district?

Currently, I believe food insecurity, economic mobility, and quality education are big issues within the district. These issues are a culmination of the inequities people are seeing within the district like stagnating wages and food deserts. Working families and senior citizens need access to fresh food by having grocery stores nearby and accessible (both physically and financially). Job creation and the push for a living wage is important to tackle inflation and stimulate consumer spending. Fully-funded education will help our children compete in a competitive environment with core life skills such as financial literacy and civics. A decent, dignified life with economic opportunity, should be available to all us, not just the wealthy and privileged. I will fight tirelessly for social programs that materially improve living and working conditions, and expand economic opportunities for residents of District 10.

How will you help your constituents deal with inflation?

In 2019, Maryland's minimum wage laws were changed to slowly increase to $15.00/hour by 2025. Maryland already has among the highest costs of living of any state and, given the ongoing trend of inflation, the real value of this wage increase has evaporated. Maryland workers need help now, and we must expedite this process and get us to a $15.00 minimum wage as quickly as possible. Investing in elder and childcare to enhance economic mobility for workers, and pushing measures that lower the cost of prescription drugs, can also provide inflation relief. We also must acknowledge the role of corporate greed and price gouging in inflation. Corporations are making record profits, while our working families suffer and small businesses shutter their doors permanently across the state. We need to hold these corporations accountable, raise their taxes, and invest this revenue in economic relief for working people.

What do you see as the top transportation priority in your district, and how would you address it?

Access to free and expanded public transportation is not only important for providing working families with economic mobility, but is also critical in addressing the climate crisis. We must expand bus, rail, and subway access, to reduce traffic, pollution, and commute times. We must restore construction plans for the Red Line; for far too long communities of color have been deprived of accessible transportation in favor of white affluent communities. Additionally, Transportation services for senior citizens and disabled people must be improved, as they serve as a primary means of transportation for those going to work, their place of worship, the store, a social gathering, or other important events. As a delegate, I will fight to expand funding for MDOT and county transportation services in order to provide shorter and more accurate wait times and to hire more drivers, while making sure they are paid a living wage.

What should schools do differently during the next pandemic to help students, families and teachers?

I support a $70,000 starting salary for teachers that is indexed to, as well as raising salaries across the board for current teachers. This will give our teachers a greater incentive to begin and maintain a career in our state. I think most importantly for our educators, teachers deserve to have tools and resources to help them adapt to and manage a virtual learning environment. Conducting a hybrid learning format makes it extremely difficult for teachers, requiring them to not only focus on their students in the classroom, but also ensure that students at home are receiving the material and instruction. A hybrid learning format should include support personnel and adequate tools, such as universal broadband, to make the process as seamless as possible for students and teachers. We also need funding for more support personnel and the ability to have permanent school psychologists.

How equitably do police officers treat people of color?

People of color are not treated equitably by the police. In Baltimore County, black residents make up 80% of cannabis arrests, despite making up 30% of the population. A 2018 report, for that Baltimore County police officers are 73% more likely to stop black drivers than white drivers. This gross disparity must be addressed by ensuring that police officers treat people of color with dignity and respect through strict accountability and transparency measures. I will champion reform measures such as legalizing cannabis and expunging cannabis charges from records; eliminating cash bail; ending the school-to-prison pipeline; requiring automatic expungements for misdemeanor offenses; ending qualified immunity for police officers; and the demilitarization of state and local police forces. After the murder of George Floyd, I was a leading youth organizer in fight for police reform in Baltimore County. We pushed for de-escalation training, whistleblower protections for officer's reporting misconduct, and civilian oversight.

What would you do to make sure Maryland's voting system is secure and accurate?

The right to vote is sacred to our democracy. People have died for our right to vote. We are seeing an alarming number of states enacting restrictive voter laws that target predominantly minority groups. Ensuring that we have automatic voter registration, and same day voter registration is crucial. We need to have certification of votes out of the hands of partisan, elected officials. This should be put in the hands of the judiciary.

What are the right goals and deadlines for Maryland to reduce carbon emissions and develop renewable energy sources?

Climate change needs to come front and center in democratic politics so we can preserve a future for the next generations. According to the recent IPCC report, we have 8 years to prevent irreversible damage. Our state has no other option than to take bold action. I will bring this sense of urgency to Annapolis. I am fighting for a Green New Deal for Maryland that will make 100% of statewide contracts carbon-neutral by 2025 and reach 100% renewable energy by 2032. By investing in renewable energy sources, we can revitalize our economy and tackle inequality — we can create hundreds of thousands of good-paying union jobs with high labor standards in the sector. I am in favor of funding retraining programs for our existing energy workforce in order to ease the transition.

What's Maryland's best use of federal COVID relief money?

Maryland should put its federal relief money towards economic relief for working families as they try to afford rent, childcare, groceries, and gas. We must also provide economic relief for our small businesses that are cornerstones of our community that have been permanently closing across the state, while massive corporations like Walmart and Amazon rake in record profits. We must be investing in public sectors such as healthcare and education to retain teachers and nurses, who have been heroes through this awful pandemic.