North Carolina Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

2. Other or expanded principles
- There is no economic freedom or equality for women if they are not in control of their own bodies. I trust women to decide when and if they want to have children. It is a decision that is between the woman, her partner, and her doctor?not a legislator. We must put into place policies that dramatically decrease the need for abortions without ever restricting the rights of women to have control over their own bodies. Accessible women?s healthcare, including access to contraceptives, as well as education must be readily available to all women.

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes

2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- We must increase taxes on the wealthiest income brackets and remove the loopholes that allow them to offshore money and dodge capital gains taxes. Income inequality is crushing this nation's middle class. Our military spending is out of control. However, no cuts can be made that increase harm to our soldiers.

Campaign Finance

1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- We must end Citizen United and remove money out of politics.I will push for public funding of elections and move away from the model we have now.

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- I will push for a modern WPA, The American Workers Corps, that will direct hire workers to address our nations broad infrastructure, energy, and environmental needs. The communities that benefit from this work will be able to grow a stronger tax base and be more attractive to private investment. I believe that a low corporate tax base would be a positive, but only if all loopholes and tax dodges are eliminated so that corporations actually pay the full amount of the lower taxe base.

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- I do not believe that children should be at a disadvantage depending on what state or even what neighborhood they are in. We must properly fund our schools and pay our teachers a pay rate that they deserve for serving a critical function for our nation.

Energy & Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- I am a supporter of the plan put forward by the Citizens Climate Lobby and will plan to join their Climate Solutions Caucus when I am in the House.

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- I am a Moms Demand Action Gunsense candidate and I believe we can protect the rights of the Second Amendment while still regulating against weapons of war from being in our streets.

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No

2. Other or expanded principles
- I think was a good first step to ensuring that all Americans have good health insurance. We must go further.

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No

2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- We cannot have immigration policies that split families and ignore dignity. While I recognize that illegal immigrants have broken a law

Marijuana

1. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- Medical use is a must; adult recreation use is logical.We must de-schedule marijuana at the federal level and encourage the states to decriminalize.We must release any non-violent drug offenders from our prisons and ensure they have a successful reintegration into society.

National Security

1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- No

2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- It will be next to impossible to stop nations with intent from gaining nuclear weapons. It should be a priority of ours to deal diplomatically and economically with nations that choose to pursue nuclear weapons but committing US forces from stopping that is a dangerous precedent. We must protect people from destructive governments but we have long chosen one administration over another and those chosen often become the problems. Often this is done solely for stability in fossil fuels. We must stop choosing sides against the will of the people and empower dictators who don't support democratic ideals.

Administrative Priorities

Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- Protect our democracy by addressing corruption, protecting our voting rights, and standing up for civil rights.Protect our environment by addressing climate change with urgency and put the government back in charge of conservation.Ensure every working American is paid a living wage, eliminating poverty.