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
- Government should not be involved in people's wombs and bedrooms. We are not here to actively encourage people to have abortions. We are here to allow people control over their own bodies.

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
- 1) We should not raise taxes on the working and middle classes. We should make sure people pay their fair share. 2) We need to cut wasteful military spending. Some of our military branches cannot even successfully perform an audit. We need to re-focus our military spending in terms of modern warfare (e.g., cyber).

Campaign Finance

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- Yes, we need to get dark money out of politics and restore representative democracy.

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
- 1) Yes, federal spending can result in tremendous economic gains, including the building of infrastructure, which has fallen into disrepair. 2) We've just lowered corporate taxes to a reasonable level.

Education

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- Within reason. The federal government should ensure equitable education for all. States should have some leeway to educate their students, but there must be high standards for students nationwide.

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
- We must expand renewable energy. The tariff on solar cells was a step in the wrong direction. We only have one planet and we must cut emissions to reduce climate change and protect our water and air.

Guns

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- I prefer the term gun-reform. It's our largest public health epidemic and we have a responsibility to take steps toward reducing suicide, homicide, and mass shootings. This includes background checks, closing the gun show loophole, raising the age to purchase to 21, banning bump stocks / high capacity magazines / military grade silencers, and removing guns (at least temporarily) from households in crisis (e.g., suicide threat, domestic abuse).

Health Care

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- We need to make sure every American has access to healthcare.

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
- A border wall is a waste of money and would not prove effective. We need a strong border, but a wall is not the right approach. Illegal immigrants should be held accountable to the law. But we must exercise our conscience as a country known for being pro-humanity. That means protecting DACA recipients and their families who are tax payers and contributors to society.

Marijuana

1. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- No

2. Other or expanded principles
- This should be a state's decision and every state should have the ability to make their own decision. States rights, in at least this regard, should be protected. We support research for medicinal marijuana and expanding that program nationwide, if research continues to support it.

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
- A "yes or no" answer to this isn't reflective of individual circumstances. If there is a credible threat, we should take action to protect Americans. We should play a role as a peacekeeper in the Middle East and we shouldn't rule out support beyond that from the air. But we must exercise caution. We've seen what Iraq and Afghanistan have done to our military, budget, and the region.

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.
- Fair Districting - we must have a federal law that requires non-partisan drawing of districts to eliminate gerrymandering once and for all.