The Issues

Mission: Family farmers and their businesses play a major economic role in New York’s 23rd Congressional District. Farmers bring homegrown work, innovation, and ethics―and a remarkable sense of community―to regional economies across our state and the nation. There are more fruit, vegetable, dairy, and wine and grape producers in NY-23 than in any other district, and the annual value of the products those farm families send to market is over $1 billion.

Mission: Bring jobs back to the district through tax cuts for the middle-class, not the wealthiest one percent. Ensure a fair minimum wage. Update our outdated labor laws to match the 21st Century workforce, including taking health care off the backs of employers, especially small business, better social planning for child care for working parents, and improving wages to rebalance what is now out of whack employee/CEO ratio.

Mission: Our children and seniors are particularly dependent on health care programs like the ACA, CHIP, and Medicare, and Tom Reed has voted repeatedly to strip away their coverage. Access to health care should be a right, not a privilege for the wealthy. Those with pre-existing conditions should not be penalized. The U.S. is the only western developed nation in which a hard-working family can go bankrupt from a hospital stay. Affordable health care is a gateway to economic opportunity and upward mobility. I support universal health care through a single-payer system.

Mission: Our schools are the heart and soul of our district. All children, regardless of their location, have a right to a quality K-12 education. We must invest in our K-12 public schools. We have excellent post-secondary schools in our district and the ability to attend them should not just be a pipe dream for constituents. We should create vocational, trade, and certificate programs between our excellent schools and the people who neither want nor can afford a four-year degree.

Mission: We must ensure our national security agencies and diplomatic corps are equipped to meet 21st century challenges, including cybersecurity and terrorism. The U.S. must maintain its strong bilateral and multilateral alliances, including through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The threats to our national security are complex and we cannot go it alone. Congress must act now to defend against the threat of hacking into our democratic institutions from state and non-state actors.

Mission: This country was built by immigrants and continues to benefit from the skills and expertise immigrants bring to the U.S. I support immigration reform that provides undocumented people living in the district in good legal standing with a path towards citizenship. Farmers and wineries in this District depend on immigrant workers.

Mission: We are privileged to live in one of the most beautiful places in the country and we have a responsibility to keep our water, air, and land safe and clean. We must also protect our district and country from the effects of climate change. I strongly oppose fracking; fracking would destroy our beautiful district and poison our lands. I support the current NY State moratorium on hydraulic-fracturing and federal funding for climate change research, as well as policy based on the scientific method.

Mission: Our campaign is committed to putting people first and to bringing 21st-century economic opportunity to the 23rd District. We are dedicated to the interests of working people and families, and of labor unions. Our comprehensive approach includes health care, education, and immigration and labor reform, together with infrastructure improvements and appropriate conservation of our natural resources. Reform in only one or two of these areas would help working- and middle-class people, but only comprehensive reform―of all these areas woven together―will make it possible to achieve both the kind and quality of economic development that will bring a new generation of investment and jobs to the 23rd District.

Mission: Provide adequate funding for veterans, including health care, mental health support, and programs to help veterans shift to civilian employment after serving. We need people in Congress who understand what it means to deploy men and women overseas and who will ensure the government provides the highest form of care and support upon our soldiers’ return. We can give our military the latest technology in war, but if we don’t take care of our soldiers when they return home, we are not doing our jobs.

Mission: I support net neutrality. Companies should not have the right to limit access to the Internet to only those who can afford it. Doing so will harm our schools and universities and most affect low-income families, students, and people with disabilities. It is time for Congress to pass legislation that protects this critical principal of communications, commerce and content sharing on the internet.

Mission: Every American is equal, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, ability, religion, sexual orientation, or background. We must combat the systemic racism and prejudice that blocks many from accessing opportunities equally. I will fiercely fight discrimination in all its forms. I will fight to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include prohibiting discrimination against the LGBTQ community. We must also protect and expand people with disabilities’ access to education, employment, transportation, health care, and their communities.

FAIR PAY

Mission: We must commit to ensuring equal pay for equal work and creating an economy where opportunity is fairly distributed to all. Since the Equal Pay Act of 1963, equal pay for equal work without gender discrimination has been the law of the land. But achieving this goal as a reality is still in our future. In the more than 50 years that have passed, the wage gap has shrunk, but not disappeared: women used to earn 60 cents for every dollar earned by men, and now they earn 80 cents on the dollar nationwide. This wage gap is even higher for women of color. New York State is a leader in reducing the wage gap: the women of New York earn 89.1 cents for every dollar earned by men. However, 14.8% of women in New York State still live in poverty.

I am honored to be recognized by Moms Demand Action as a Gun Sense Candidate.

Mission: I come from a family of hunters and I will protect the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners. At the same time, gun violence is an epidemic in this country and we cannot ignore the ongoing mass shootings in our schools and communities. Research has shown that the number one reason for mass murders in our country is the easy availability of large numbers of guns. There are practical and common sense actions that can and must be taken to ensure those seeking to commit violent acts do not have easy access to guns.