In my first term, I made responsiveness to residents a top priority:

• Resolved thousands of constituent services requests, connecting residents with District agencies to ensure our city addresses issues as they arise
• Maximized accessibility through consistent engagement at community meetings and events, meeting with thousands of residents, businesses, and community organizations
• Hosted monthly Workdays in the Ward and other events to hear from Ward 3 constituents, including annual Budget Listening Sessions, and events to discuss issues from the WMATA Better Bus Network Redesign to the Boundary and Student Assignment Studies
• Regularly convened and attended meetings with Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, Ward 3 school LSATs and PTOs, Main Street organizations and Senior Villages to support our critical community institutions”
• Disseminated critical information through bi-weekly newsletters, sharing updates from the Council and Committee, community partners, and District agencies

If re-elected, I am committed to continuing to make myself available and accessible to all, delivering incredible constituent services, and connecting with residents where they are – in Ward 3 and across the District.

As a former education activist turned policymaker, I have been able to deliver on programs and services that I consistently fought for outside the halls of power. My achievements include:

• Delivered full funding for our schools and improved school maintenance through aggressive performance and budget oversight, annual school readiness tours at every Ward 3 school, and close partnership with school communities and education agencies
• Kept school construction and modernization projects on track, including Stoddert Elementary School, MacArthur High School and Deal Middle School
• Preserved funding for PKEEP, providing free PK3 and PK4 to hundreds of Ward 3 families, protected the Early Childhood Pay Equity Fund, ensuring fair compensation for early childhood educators, and safeguarded DC Paid Family Leave, helping families care for children and loved ones
• Reversed cuts to DCPL staffing and hours, funding the largest increase in librarian and other positions and physical and digital circulation budgets in recent history as Chair of the Committee on Human Services
• Introduced legislation to, and guaranteed funding for, the expansion of Out-of-School-Time programming, a proven tool to improve student achievement and prevent juvenile crime
• Pushed to limit cellphone use by students to promote healthy learning environments
• Supported our hardworking teachers, including in their successful effort to secure a new five-year contract

I will never stop fighting for greater equity in education, and with so much changing in this election I believe my deep experience in this work will be a critical steady hand for school communities in Ward 3 and across the District. I am excited to explore new opportunities for innovation and improvement to our incredible school systems with the incoming Mayor and Council, including increasing independence for OSSE, empowering our State Board of Education, shoring up our school funding, expanding before and after school programming, and ensuring our educators and administrators are adequately compensated and respected.

Rising housing costs are front of mind for many District residents. I understand that the only way through this situation is through the creation of more housing. We also must work to ensure the high quality of existing housing is maintained. Here are a few of the ways I have worked to address housing issues:

• Addressed critical challenges to creating more housing, through consistent oversight of and advocacy for common-sense reforms, like addressing rent delinquency and expediting permitting, including through the RENTAL Act
• Stood up for tenants by working with colleagues, the Attorney General, the Office of the Tenant Advocate and tenant associations to address maintenance issues in our apartment buildings, protect TOPA rights, and hold landlords accountable
• Consistently fought for increased access to and oversight of affordable housing, preserving the Housing Purchase Assistance Program, Employer-Assisted Housing Program, and ensuring that the District’s voucher programs are efficiently and responsibly administered
• Chaired the Committee on Human Services, conducting deep performance and budget oversight of the District’s homelessness prevention programming, including funding and reforming the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, and exploring new innovative models like DC Flex
• Created the first Housing Production Trust Fund project in Ward 3 ever, delivering dozens of deeply subsidized units for District seniors
• Introduced the Rent Stabilization Protection Amendment Act to preserve rent stabilized units and ensure the District uses its limited housing subsidy funds responsibly
• Successfully passed the Vacant to Vibrant Act in order to turn blighted properties into useful developments

This work is critical to continuing to make the District more affordable, and I am committed to spending a second term working to reduce barriers and increase incentives to build more housing. I will be a strong advocate for pairing that goal with sensible, community-informed changes to the once-in-a-decade opportunity in the Comprehensive Plan, and my experience will ensure a seamless continuation of the essential performance and budget oversight of our human services and housing agencies to ensure accountability for, and efficiency of, our voucher and subsidy programs.

The District has come a long way on public safety, and while the trends are generally going in the right direction, there is still much to do. I have pursued a course of greater early intervention to address the root causes of crime, while also enhancing our public safety agencies responsiveness. These are some of my efforts to create a stable and safe environment for all District residents:

• Helped pass SECURE DC to make common-sense reforms to our criminal justice system that meet changing public safety needs, while maintaining critical community accountability measures
• Increased pay and recruitment incentives for first responders
• Helped increase MPD presence in and cooperation with our business districts
• Passed the STEER Act and oversaw improvements to pedestrian and traffic safety and enforcement
• Supported prevention and intervention programs so we can proactively promote neighborhood safety
• Worked with community members to address juvenile crime in a responsible way, sensitive to and informed by the unique needs of our youth

Despite continued improvements, public safety understandably remains one of the top concerns for residents across the District. Recent revelations of potential malfeasance by MPD leadership and the continued presence of federal law and immigration enforcement complicate efforts to make the District safe for all residents. Now more than ever, the level-headed approach I bring to public safety is indispensable to continued improvement, funding and oversight, balancing understandable concerns for safety with the need for accountability, and managing relationships with the federal government.

I have been a staunch advocate for our neighborhood economies across Ward 3 and the District, supporting our Main Street, Business Improvement Districts, and local businesses on the Council. Some of my approaches to promote a growing economy include:

• Increased annual funding for Main Street organizations that serve small businesses in our commercial corridors, including Chevy Chase, Cleveland Park, Glover Park, the Palisades, Tenleytown, Van Ness, and Woodley Park
• Passed legislation establishing new cross-jurisdictional (DC and MD) Business Improvement District in Friendship Heights, ensuring the continued development of one of Ward 3’s critical transit and commercial corridors
• Doubled the Small Retailer Property Tax Credit so local businesses can keep up with rising costs
• Fought to ensure the new RFK development reflected the needs of the District and Ward 7, engaging in deep project oversight, securing key accountability measures and housing and public amenities guarantees
• Used my position on the District’s Workforce Investment Council and Chair of the Committee on Human Services to work towards improved, engaging, and exciting training and employment programs for District residents, especially in the face of increased work requirements for federally-funded public benefit programs

Workforce development will continue to be a top priority for me – creating engaging fulfilling education, training, and work opportunities in high-demand fields is critical to ensuring the District’s economy continues to thrive throughout the 21st century. Simultaneously, I will continue to be responsive and supportive of the critical neighborhood anchors that keep our thriving business districts and communities the envy of the region.

I have worked hard to develop better support systems for our seniors and improve our world-class public facilities across the District before and throughout my tenure on the Council. A few of the ways I have realized my goals include:

• Increased support for Senior Villages, including Cleveland & Woodley Park, Glover Park, Northwest Neighbors, and Palisades, and preserved funding for Iona Senior Services and the Sibley Memory Club
• Served as Chair of the Subcommittee on Recreation and Community Affairs, fighting for full funding, responsive maintenance, and long-term planning for our incredible parks and recreation centers
• Protected our libraries by increasing funding for librarians and physical and digital collections, and averting drastic proposed cuts to library hours
• Conducted thorough oversight and investment in the District’s public facilities, ensuring the Department of General Services is responsive to residents, accountable for their budget, and prioritizing environmental sustainability

We have developed an incredible portfolio of parks, fields, libraries, recreation and community centers – now we need to be deeply committed to being responsible stewards of those investments, including focusing on preventative maintenance. I will continue to ensure that our libraries and recreation centers are places our youth want to congregate and our seniors have programming, including by sustaining our investments in library collections and staffing and expanding recreation hours. And I will always fight to ensure the District is a place where our residents can afford to age-in-place, including by adequately compensating our indispensable long-term care workers.

I have dedicated significant work and time on the Council to advocating for better transportation infrastructure and making the District as accessible as possible:

• Co-Sponsored the STEER Act of 2023, increasing accountability for reckless out-of-state drivers by allowing the Attorney General to sue for repeated, dangerous safety violations
• Used my position as Vice Chair of the National Capitol Region Transportation Planning Board to identify long-term, stable funding sources for WMATA in collaboration with our regional partners
• Conducted extensive community engagement around WMATA’s Better Bus Network, advocating for Ward 3’s needs and ensuring consistent, fast, and reliable bus service for residents across the District
• Fought to expand bus priority and painted and protected bike lanes to improve safety and speed, ensuring the District continues to respond to the needs of our multi-modal residents
• Grew Capital Bikeshare stations and the electric bike fleet for healthier, greener, and faster transportation options in the District and across the region, leading to continuously growing ridership on the first bikeshare system in the Nation
• Co-Sponsored legislation to speed-up the replacement of lead pipes in the District by 2030 while supporting the creation of well-paying and sustainable jobs
• Co-sponsored the Healthy Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act of 2024 to support low and moderate income families in transitioning to cleaner, more efficient electrification and energy upgrades
• Consistently held utilities accountable for unjustly shifting costs to ratepayers, fighting against investments in dirty energy and for the continued transition to clean renewables
• Focused on expanding zero-emissions heating and cooling systems, including advocating for geothermal heat pump technology in District government projects

I am committed to continuing to fight to hold dangerous drivers accountable, support WMATA, and expand Bikeshare, bike, and bus lanes throughout the District – and look forward to the opportunities a new Mayor will present for collaboration in these regards. And I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure the District remains an international leader in environmental sustainability, pushing our utilities and agencies to invest in green technology and to prioritize furthering environmental justice in all decision-making, without preventing progress.

The District is facing unprecedented attacks on our local government and autonomy, alongside devastating attacks on and layoffs of our incredibly committed public servants. I have consistently prioritized working with my colleagues and our allies to defend the District, all the while underscoring the indispensability of Statehood, including:

• Stood-up to attempts to defund the District’s balanced budget, advocating on Capitol Hill and coordinating with my colleagues and the Mayor to think creatively and act thoughtfully, largely avoiding what would have been an unnecessary and devastating $1+ billion cut
• Advocated for a balanced response to Federal intervention in District affairs while always prioritizing the needs and safety of District residents, including conducting careful oversight of MPD cooperation with Federal agencies and ensuring accountability and transparency
• Shared timely updates and critical resources with residents through both my newsletter and social media accounts, as well as through engagement with community groups and schools to ensure the dissemination of essential Know Your Rights information
• Continuously respected the will of the voters by funding the implementation of ballot initiatives, including the timely and thoughtful implementation of Ranked Choice Voting for the 2026 election cycle

The next few years promise to be the most challenging that the District’s autonomy – and American democracy – have faced in at least a century. I have and will take every action I can to fight for transparency and accountability, and to defend our residents, especially those most vulnerable to discriminatory federal actions. And I will continue to be proactive in my communications with my colleagues, our allies on the Hill, and residents across the District.