Priorities

Gun Violence Continues to Harm Our Nation

I didn’t think I would have to post something like this again so soon, but here we are again.

Another young man with an AR-15 assault rifle has taken the lives of innocent people in a place we all expect to be safe. Just in the past few weeks, we have seen unspeakable violence in a neighborhood grocery, an elementary school, and now a cherished community event. Dozens of rounds are fired within seconds with weapons designed for war. We all want to think this couldn’t happen here. This couldn’t happen to us. But as we near the 6-year anniversary of the Mukilteo shooting we know it can happen here. And that is why I have, and will continue to be, a champion for common-sense gun reform.

Washington state is a leader in gun safety and is now considered to be the 10th safest state in the nation because of the successes we’ve had in Olympia and the ballot box. From age restrictions, improved background checks, and, most recently, a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines, we have kept our communities safer. But there is more work to do, and just as I have for the past few years, I will introduce a bill to ban AR-15-style weapons of war–these same weapons of war that were used in Buffalo, Uvalde, Highland Park, and Mukilteo.

Protecting Women’s Right to Choose

Waking to the decision of the United States Supreme Court is devastating. The Constitutional right to abortion, a ruling that has been implemented for over 50 years and has protected the health and lives of thousands of women, has been overturned and lost due to the conservative majority in the Supreme Court.

For Washingtonians, we are thankful not to feel the brunt edge of this devastating blow. Under our current legislation, women still have the right to get an abortion, a protection that I and many other Democrats have long fought for in Olympia. Though this still stands in our state, with the overturn of Roe v. Wade, it may not always be permanent. This is something we must continue fighting for. Every year, Republicans introduce legislation to restrict or ban abortions in our state, but it has been our Democratic majority that has stopped these bills in their tracks and, instead, actually expanded women’s rights to abortion and healthcare.

As we’ve seen, nothing is guaranteed, and we need you now more than ever to show your support and vote in this year’s elections. We must continue electing and securing Democrats that will uphold women’s rights and continue moving the pendulum of justice forward. This pressure has always existed, but we cannot lose our footing as a result of this attack on women’s rights. Instead, we must work even harder and remain wide awake to the challenges we face ahead.

In my years in office, I have shown that I will always fight for what is right, even if the road will be long and difficult to manage. As an elected official, it is my duty to fight for all people, to fight for women, to fight for people of color, to fight for low-income communities, to fight for our LGBTQ friends and neighbors. This decision has been a major setback for women’s rights and human rights for that matter. We had much work to do and now the load is even larger, but we will take on the challenges in the name of justice, and it will indeed take everyone to do their part. The collective voice of the people has always changed history and it always will, this pivotal moment in history is when we must all come together.