Candidate for U.S. Senate - Kentucky in 2020 Kentucky Regular and Presidential Primary Election.
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Get StartedA woman’s right to choose, and the healthcare decisions she needs to make, are protected by her right to privacy. They are fundamental to a woman controlling her life’s destiny. Roe v. Wade guarantees this right. It is settled law and it was decided correctly. I would not vote to confirm any judicial nominee who is unwilling to publicly acknowledge these truths during their confirmation hearings. Learn more
I support extending the full protection of our nation’s federal anti-discrimination laws to LGBTQ individuals. Learn more
I support a commission to address the economic disparity that exists between white Americans and Americans who are descendants from trafficked and enslaved persons. Learn more
The simple truth is too many people charged with nonviolent offenses are being incarcerated for longer periods of time. Over incarceration and private prisons are expensive and a huge drain of our tax dollars, destroying families and communities without making us any safer. Part of the discussion that America needs to have around criminal justice reform must get at the purpose of locking people away and what we as a society, want the outcomes to result in. Right now, our criminal justice system is broken. Learn more
America has a duty and obligation to provide immediate medical and mental healthcare options for veterans awaiting treatment through a VA hospital. No veteran should be denied care while awaiting induction to the VA and subsequent treatment. Learn more
I support removing marijuana from the schedule of controlled drugs, just as alcohol and tobacco are currently regulated. We need to stop putting people in jail and release and clear the records of individuals who have been prosecuted for nonviolent past crimes. We need to bring marijuana’s use and regulation into the light and we need to study it’s medicinal capabilities. Learn more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created after the Great Recession to protect consumers and to hold the big banks accountable. But for the last three years, Mitch McConnell has worked to defund the CFPB and strip away its enforcement powers. We need to fully fund and depoliticize the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFPB. We need to empower them once again to enforce and implement regulations that will pull back on the financial sector’s size and corrupt influence over our economy. Their influence is stifling innovation and too focused on what is best for quarterly profits and CEO stock options, rather than what will help all Americans to share in economic growth. Learn more
Any parent knows how expensive quality and reliable child care is. And in many rural areas of our commonwealth, child care is not even available. It is a problem that is keeping many from going to work or pursuing educational opportunities. We must find ways to keep child care safe, make it accessible and affordable in more places and pay child care workers more. This is a problem that will not be fixed by a single policy. But we can help families now by increasing the tax deduction parents are able to take for work or education-related child care needs. Learn more
The first two-years of post-secondary education – a certificate, skilled-trade, community college or university – for young people whose parents’ annual income is less than $200,000, should be tuition free. All students, regardless of parents’ income, pursuing a four-year or post-graduate degree should receive zero percent interest loans to help them complete their studies. For individuals with outstanding student loans who go into public service jobs like teaching, first responders and the military, $10,000 of their post-secondary education loans should be forgiven for each year of service. After five years of service, the remainder of their loans would be forgiven. Finally, we should extend 0% refinancing to all current loans. Learn more
I believe in science and I know climate change is real and the result of human actions. Its effects are being felt now and it imperils our planet’s long-term survival. The consequences of not addressing it now are unacceptable; and for future generations, for our children and grandchildren, the cost will be unbearable and their quality of life irreparably diminished. Learn more
All gun sales must be cleared by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Additionally, we must require all government agencies to report ineligibility or incompetence to own a weapon to the FBI for input into the NICS system. Learn more
Red flag laws allow law enforcement and the courts to temporarily remove guns from the homes of people who have threatened to harm themselves or others. Access to a gun in heightened emotional circumstances greatly increases the risk that someone will die. According to Everytown, access to a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed and increases the risk of death by suicide by three times. Learn more
As a retired Marine and artilleryman, I know what firepower is required on the battlefield. As a father, a grandfather, a farmer, a teacher and a civilian, I know what firepower isn’t necessary on the streets of our country. Learn more
The least disruptive way to achieve that goal is by expanding and improving the Affordable Care Act to include a public option that would provide competition to private insurance companies and more affordable opportunities to all Americans. Learn more
Medicaid Expansion has not only improved and increased access to health care in rural areas, saving many rural hospitals from closing their doors, healthcare is now the largest employer in rural eastern Kentucky. We also need to explore new ways for rural residents to access quality healthcare, both preventative and emergency, closer to home. Learn more
Medicaid Expansion has already made Kentucky healthier. Congress needs to put a stop to continued efforts by state governments to limit access to life-saving affordable healthcare access by passing a law that so-called ‘work’ requirements cannot be proposed. Research has shown that these paperwork requirements have the effect of knocking qualifying low-income individuals off of Medicaid Expansion because of confusing and poorly managed hoops to jump through. Learn more
Health and Human Services needs to be given the negotiating power to lower prescription drug prices. Regulations on drug companies and how they set prices need to be put into place to stop gouging sick Americans. Learn more
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program acknowledged that American residents who were brought to the country without papers as children and raised as Americans should be allowed to stay and work in America. President Trump has made moves to start deportations of DACA recipients but has so far been blocked by the courts. Congress needs to act to make DACA permanent and allow residents brought to the US when they were children to have a path to citizenship without fear of deportation from the only country they have ever known. Learn more
We must immediately stop separating families and putting children in cages. We should release migrants and asylum seekers who have been fully vetted to their relatives in the U.S. or to a church or organization willing to sponsor them in order to relieve overcrowding in existing facilities and save taxpayers’ money. The fact that there are private businesses making billions of dollars in profits by separating families and warehousing them in unclean and unsafe conditions is a betrayal of everything for which our country should stand for. Learn more
As we address climate change, we must make a sustained investment in large scale programs that puts people to work repairing crumbling infrastructure, fix inefficient and unaffordable utilities with innovative and sustainable methods and restore biodiversity to help make our communities more resilient against changing weather. Learn more
The top 1% and corporations need to start paying their fair share for the investments that help to drive the economy that they benefit from. Learn more
In order for us to create a country that allows for economic justice for all, we need everyone to pay their fair share for the investments that have built our country and that must be maintained and improved for our future. Currently, the richer you are, the less of your income that you pay towards taxes. Learn more
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