Issues
My platform is built around a simple idea: this district deserves a representative who understands how government works, knows where the resources are, and will fight to bring them home. My priorities focus on economic opportunity, public safety, housing, environmental justice, veterans, and schools.
Police and Fire Department Support & Public Safety
I will be an unwavering partner to our first responders — and that commitment begins on day one.
I believe that supporting law enforcement and addressing the root causes of crime — including substance abuse and poverty — are not competing priorities. Fewer people in crisis means fewer dangerous calls. I will work to ensure that treatment and intervention programs reduce the burden on our officers, not shift responsibilities onto them without the resources to match.
What I Will Do
• Fight for funding. I will go to the State House and advocate aggressively for increased state funding for the Holyoke Police and Fire Departments — for staffing, modern equipment, training, and the mental health resources officers need and deserve.
• Expand cancer presumption coverage. Cancer is now the leading cause of firefighter line-of-duty deaths in the United States. I will actively push for ongoing expansion of covered cancer types and stronger protections for firefighters as new research emerges. I will oppose any state-level measures that would allow municipalities to reduce firefighter staffing below safe minimums, and I will support state SAFER grant access — federal funding that helps departments hire and keep firefighters.
• Stand with police on liability and due process. I will oppose legislation that exposes officers to increased personal civil liability without appropriate due process protections. Any reforms affecting how officers do their jobs must be fair, workable, and developed in genuine partnership with law enforcement.
Our Veterans and Military Families
The men and women at Westover, and the veterans living throughout this district, have earned something specific: accountability. Not just thanks. Accountability.
That means making sure the care and services they were promised are actually delivered. It also means something more: when a service member transitions out of the military and wants to start a business or build something new, they should have a community and a representative ready to help them do that. There are programs and partnerships that can make Holyoke and this district a real landing place for veteran entrepreneurs. I intend to pursue them.
Soldiers' Home Accountability
The Holyoke Soldiers' Home COVID-19 tragedy is the defining veterans' issue in this district. At least 76 veterans died in the spring of 2020 due to catastrophic management failures. A $58 million settlement was reached in 2022. The new $482 million Holyoke Veterans' Home is expected to open in late 2026.
My Core Commitments to Veterans
• Transparency. Full document disclosure on the 2020 tragedy — pressing the current administration on outstanding auditor requests that remain unresolved.
• On-time opening. Ensure the new Veterans' Home opens on schedule, fully staffed and properly resourced.
• Funding. Fight for adequate funding for the Executive Office of Veterans' Services in every state budget.
• Mental health. Advocate for veteran mental health care, suicide prevention, and peer-support programs.
• Bilingual services. Ensure veterans' services navigation is available in Spanish, with explicit recognition of Holyoke's large Latino veteran community, including Puerto Rican veterans.
• PFAS at Westover. Advocate for full remediation and health monitoring for veterans, active service members, and surrounding families affected by PFAS contamination at Westover Air Reserve Base. PFAS are industrial chemicals linked to cancer and other serious illnesses. The EPA's 2024 drinking water standard sets the limit at 4 parts per trillion — groundwater near Westover has tested far higher.
Workforce Development & Economic Mobility
The vacant mills in this city are not a symbol of decline. They are an opportunity we have not yet been given the right tools to take.
Holyoke's economy has struggled since the manufacturing jobs of the 20th century left — leaving behind empty buildings, high poverty (approximately 27% of residents), and limited career paths for young people. I will fight for the state investment and redevelopment incentives needed to put those buildings back to work, and with them, put our people back to work.
But I also want to say something you don't often hear: Holyoke already has a world-class asset that most cities would pay anything to have. The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center — chosen by MIT, Harvard, and the top research universities in the country — sits right here. That is not nothing. That is a foundation.
Clean energy technology. Data. Advanced manufacturing. These are not distant possibilities. They are the realistic next step for a city with our location, our fiber network, and our power capacity.
And we are going to make sure that the people doing those jobs are from here.
Three Focus Areas
• Downtown and mill redevelopment. Using targeted state programs to put vacant mill buildings back into use as housing and commercial space.
• Workforce and jobs. Sector-based training pipelines in healthcare, clean energy, and the trades — programs where workers earn while they learn.
• Small business support. Bilingual access to small business capital. Commercial renovation grants. Partnerships with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).
Housing Affordability & Lead Abatement
We have an affordability problem and an aging housing stock problem at the same time. New construction is expensive, and too much of what exists is either out of reach or substandard. I will push for every available state housing tool to be deployed here.
One of the most effective and underused tools is the community land trust model — a structure where a nonprofit holds land in trust permanently, keeping homes affordable for generations without relying on ongoing subsidies.
Four Priority Actions
• Lead remediation. High concentrations of lead paint in low-income neighborhoods pose serious health risks, especially for young children.
• Code enforcement. Too many rental units in Holyoke are out of compliance with basic health and safety standards.
• Homeownership pathways. First-generation homebuyer programs, access to nonprofit lenders (CDFIs), and federal HOME program funding.
• Reducing vacancy. Empty buildings drag down neighborhoods and block economic recovery.
Environmental Justice
Holyoke's low-income Latino community carries a disproportionate share of our region's environmental burden. That is a justice issue, and I will treat it as one.
Five Specific Priorities
• Air quality and asthma. The Pioneer Valley has been ranked the #1 Asthma Capital in the United States.
• Connecticut River sewage pollution (CSO). A federal enforcement agreement requires Holyoke to complete sewer separation.
• Brownfields cleanup. Dozens of former industrial sites across Holyoke sit contaminated.
• Holding the state accountable on environmental justice.
• Climate resilience and flooding. Holyoke faces increasing flood risk from more intense storms.
Education Funding and School Safety
Holyoke schools are owed money under the Student Opportunity Act. That money exists. The law says it should come here. My job is to make sure it does — every dollar of it — and that it lands in classrooms.
What I Will Fight For
• Full Chapter 70 school funding.
• Relief on school costs.
• School safety.
• Electric school buses.
• Workforce pipelines from school to career.